Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $97.72.

Several research firms have recently commented on MTH. Wall Street Zen lowered Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America began coverage on Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other news, Director Joseph Keough acquired 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,758,872. This trade represents a 10.61% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 96.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $567,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,148 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 93.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $207,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,024 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 94.1% in the 1st quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,434,368 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $101,668,000 after acquiring an additional 695,355 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 95.7% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,352,648 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $95,876,000 after acquiring an additional 661,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Long Pond Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 592.7% in the 1st quarter. Long Pond Capital LP now owns 1,125,995 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $79,811,000 after acquiring an additional 963,438 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $68.61 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $66.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.02). The company 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 14.28% and a net margin of 11.50%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is 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.

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