Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $19.20-20.70 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $17.84. The company issued revenue guidance of $6.0-6.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $6.07 billion. Meritage Homes also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 19.200-20.700 EPS.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 2.4 %

Meritage Homes stock traded up $3.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $168.97. The stock had a trading volume of 372,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 406,076. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.70 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $109.23 and a 12-month high of $179.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $159.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.58.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 17.92%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 17.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush reissued an underperform rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $172.67.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total transaction of $35,340.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,859 shares in the company, valued at $284,408.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.