Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Share Price Crosses Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $68.92 and traded as low as $66.95. Meritage Homes shares last traded at $67.1290, with a volume of 1,897,985 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MTH shares. Zelman & Associates cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Evercore set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They set a “sell” rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 1.31.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The construction company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by ($0.06). Meritage Homes had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 6.69%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.34%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth $112,498,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at $68,873,000. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 267.8% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 356,121 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,861,000 after acquiring an additional 259,291 shares during the last quarter. Atlas FRM LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at about $18,447,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at about $14,510,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a residential construction company that designs and builds single-family homes in the United States. The company primarily serves entry-level and first-time homebuyers, offering homes in a range of floor plans and communities designed around affordability, energy efficiency and modern features.

Meritage Homes sells homes through its own communities and provides related services, including land acquisition and development, home design, construction, sales and customer support.