Zacks Research Lowers Earnings Estimates for Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lowered their FY2025 EPS estimates for Meritage Homes in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 9th. Zacks Research analyst S. Mukherjee now expects that the construction company will post earnings of $9.45 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $9.46. The consensus estimate for Meritage Homes’ current full-year earnings is $9.44 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meritage Homes’ Q4 2025 earnings at $2.74 EPS and Q3 2026 earnings at $2.87 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $63.84 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $71.67 and its 200 day moving average is $83.43. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.69.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. This trade represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meritage Homes by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,074,741 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $626,777,000 after purchasing an additional 26,889 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 94.1% during the first quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,434,368 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $101,668,000 after acquiring an additional 695,355 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $101,695,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 61.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 571,120 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $87,850,000 after purchasing an additional 217,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,910,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.