Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Truist Financial

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was upgraded by investment analysts at Truist Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Evercore set a $77.00 price objective on Meritage Homes and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.33.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH traded down $2.45 on Tuesday, hitting $68.99. The company had a trading volume of 502,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 989,496. The stock has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.48. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $59.27 and a 1-year high of $84.74.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 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 analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 7.73% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $272,939.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,844.40. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,622 shares of company stock valued at $3,640,273. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter valued at about $4,731,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $21,729,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 13.1% in the third 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 grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 90.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,477,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.