Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Cut to $75.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has lowered the price target for Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00, maintaining a "market perform" rating, which suggests an 8.11% potential upside.
• Multiple analysts have varying ratings for the stock, with target prices ranging from $70.00 to $107.00, highlighting mixed investor sentiment.
• Meritage Homes reported a quarterly EPS of $2.04, exceeding expectations, but showed a 4.6% decline in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $77.00 to $75.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the construction company's stock.

MTH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush dropped their target price 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. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $93.78.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $67.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,315,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 987,143. The stock's 50 day moving average is $67.71 and its 200 day moving average is $70.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.37. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $59.27 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company's revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is 15.47%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Joseph Keough bought 4,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $66.16 per share, for a total transaction of $264,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 41,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,758,872. This represents a 10.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola bought 2,200 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.00 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $665,840. The trade was a 30.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,758 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,439 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

About Meritage Homes

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.