Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 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%.

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.1429.

Several research firms recently issued reports on MTH. Wedbush dropped their price target on 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 upped their price target on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on Meritage Homes from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th.

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 stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.00 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,512 shares in the company, valued at $665,840. This represents a 30.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. 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 business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company's stock worth $567,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,148 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 93.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company's stock worth $207,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,024 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.0% in the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,491,955 shares of the construction company's stock worth $99,916,000 after purchasing an additional 57,587 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 58.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company's stock worth $95,299,000 after purchasing an additional 527,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 95.7% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,352,648 shares of the construction company's stock worth $95,876,000 after purchasing an additional 661,310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MTH traded down $0.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 213,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 982,756. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.25. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $59.27 and a twelve month high of $103.76. The company has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.15 EPS. Meritage Homes's quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.47%.

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.