Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Shares Gap Down to $177.04

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $177.04, but opened at $172.50. Meritage Homes shares last traded at $175.79, with a volume of 101,711 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MTH shares. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 1.0 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $161.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.26 and a beta of 1.75.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. The company 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 17.63%. On average, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $510,374,000 after purchasing an additional 151,946 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 826,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $144,027,000 after purchasing an additional 12,841 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $135,797,000 after buying an additional 143,440 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 9.8% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 689,600 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $84,400,000 after acquiring an additional 61,594 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,164,000 after buying an additional 26,682 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.