Brokerages Set Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Target Price at $106.25

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $103.25.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at about $92,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Meritage Homes by 77.7% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 606 shares of the construction company's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded down $0.77 during trading on Thursday, hitting $66.92. The stock had a trading volume of 744,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 884,315. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.64. The company has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business's revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.06 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is currently 14.06%.

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.