Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Meritage Homes has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from ten brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of $88.14.
• Insider activity includes CEO Phillippe Lord selling 6,950 shares, reducing his ownership by 3.04%, while Director Dennis V. Arriola increased his stake by purchasing 2,200 shares.
• The company reported a strong earnings performance with an EPS of $2.04 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 4.6%.

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.1429.

MTH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wedbush reduced 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $556,069.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 221,320 shares in the company, valued at $17,707,813.20. This trade represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.00 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $567,032,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925,148 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 93.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company's stock worth $207,456,000 after buying an additional 1,417,024 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth about $75,148,000. Long Pond Capital LP boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 592.7% during the first quarter. Long Pond Capital LP now owns 1,125,995 shares of the construction company's stock worth $79,811,000 after buying an additional 963,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 278.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,071,802 shares of the construction company's stock worth $75,969,000 after buying an additional 788,323 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $75.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.33. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $59.27 and a 52-week high of $104.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.47%.

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.

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