Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.8889.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $86.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,147.74. The trade was a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,053,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 44.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,980,000 after purchasing an additional 609,866 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $95,299,000 after acquiring an additional 527,265 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $75,051,000 after acquiring an additional 391,297 shares during the period. Finally, Sophron Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter worth $17,613,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $85.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $68.63 and its 200-day moving average is $69.24. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $58.03 and a 52-week high of $85.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

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.