Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Earns Underperform Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their underperform rating on shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $148.00 price target on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MTH. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $178.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $172.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.15. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $189.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. As a group, analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 20.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.99%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth about $76,297,000. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at about $32,303,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $510,374,000 after acquiring an additional 151,946 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter valued at $25,495,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,797,000 after acquiring an additional 143,440 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.