Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Cut to "Sell" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MTH. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Meritage Homes stock traded down $2.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 783,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,098,827. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $73.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.53. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,763 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company's stock worth $50,196,000 after acquiring an additional 21,092 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter valued at approximately $16,056,000. Castellan Group lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 31,981 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $6,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

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.