Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $19.20-20.70 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded down $3.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $154.69. 444,130 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 399,643. The company has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $109.23 and a 52-week high of $179.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $159.02 and a 200 day moving average of $152.48.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.18 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 17.78 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wedbush lowered Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $172.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total value of $54,176.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

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.