Brokerages Set Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Price Target at $218.17

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $218.17.

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.9% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 79,358 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,924,000 after buying an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 204.5% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,378 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter worth approximately $23,106,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter worth approximately $25,495,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 65.7% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,539,000 after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $189.30 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $191.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.49. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $137.70 and a 1-year high of $213.98.

Shares of Meritage Homes are set to split on the morning of Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, December 31st.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.58%.

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.