Brokerages Set Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) PT at $84.33

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $84.3333.

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $95.00 price objective on Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total transaction of $272,939.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,844.40. The trade was a 7.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total value of $2,510,401.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,389 shares in the company, valued at $19,917,154.61. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 47,622 shares of company stock valued at $3,640,273 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the third quarter valued at $4,731,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at $21,729,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 402,664 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,165,000 after buying an additional 46,554 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 90.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 119,754 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,804,000 after acquiring an additional 56,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,477,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $60.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.46. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $58.91 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.94 and a 200-day moving average of $71.55.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 7.73%.Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

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.