Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Shares Up 9.2% – Time to Buy?

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) traded up 9.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $74.32 and last traded at $74.6350. 617,658 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 703,655 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective (up previously from $101.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup started coverage on Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.63.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The construction company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.32). The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.34 EPS. Meritage Homes has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.510-1.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 27,033 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC now owns 12,766 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 45,669 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,005,000 after acquiring an additional 6,216 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 7,185 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,465,340 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $96,419,000 after purchasing an additional 12,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

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.