Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Raised to $195.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the construction company’s stock.

MTH has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an underperform rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $178.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.0 %

MTH stock opened at $180.59 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 1.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.54. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $183.78.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 20.41 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total value of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 4.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 6.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,979 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 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.