Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE MTH traded down $2.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $78.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,227,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 948,743. The stock has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $73.05 and a one year high of $106.99. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $86.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.64.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $103.00 target price (down previously from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group dropped 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.38.

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.

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