Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Downgraded to "Market Perform" Rating by Raymond James

Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.5 %

MTH stock traded up $0.99 during trading on Thursday, hitting $187.64. 449,179 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 413,370. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $129.42 and a 1 year high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for 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%. The business's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.16 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 600.0% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,100 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 31,901 shares of the construction company's stock worth $5,597,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 216,400 shares of the construction company's stock worth $37,970,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,632,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,336 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,030 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.