Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Receives $79.25 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.25.

Several research firms recently commented on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $93.00 target price (up from $82.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth approximately $12,540,000. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,880,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at approximately $916,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,003,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,650,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 4.4%

NYSE MTH opened at $64.38 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $58.03 and a 1 year high of $85.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.93 and a 200 day moving average of $69.73.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 7.13% and a net margin of 6.11%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 40.17%.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.