Brokerages Set Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Price Target at $213.83

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $220.17.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MTH shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MTH. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 10.6% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 95,218 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $16,707,000 after buying an additional 9,128 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in Meritage Homes by 3.3% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 216,400 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $37,970,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter worth about $25,495,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 2.1 %

Meritage Homes stock traded up $3.66 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $181.20. The stock had a trading volume of 694,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,820. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $196.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.86. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $213.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.99%.

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.