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 target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $77.00 to $75.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the construction company's stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MTH. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $82.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.78.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH traded up $0.73 on Monday, reaching $70.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,600,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,528. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $59.27 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 2.16. The stock has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 6.34 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50 day moving average is $67.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.42.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is currently 15.47%.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Joseph Keough acquired 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.16 per share, for a total transaction of $264,640.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,758,872. This trade represents a 10.61% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 169.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,101 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 5,722 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,846 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 63,008 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,086 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 312.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 3,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,424 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.