Bank of America Lowers Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $80.00

Key Points

• Bank of America has lowered its price target for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from $85.00 to $80.00, while maintaining a "buy" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 20.13% from the current stock price.
• Other analysts have also revised their ratings, with Evercore ISI downgrading the stock from "outperform" to "in-line" and lowering its price target from $100.00 to $82.00.
• Despite recent price target reductions, the company reported earnings of $2.04 per share for the last quarter, beating analysts' expectations of $1.99, but its revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Bank of America from $85.00 to $80.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the construction company's stock. Bank of America's target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.13% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MTH. Evercore ISI cut shares of Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $84.86.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded down $1.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.60. The stock had a trading volume of 134,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 967,767. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.29. The firm has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.42. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $102.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 10.27%.Meritage Homes's revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Dennis V. Arriola acquired 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.00 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $665,840. This trade represents a 30.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $556,069.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 221,320 shares in the company, valued at $17,707,813.20. The trade was a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 166.5% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 581 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 54.9% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 618 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 329.9% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 619 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently 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.

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