Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded by Truist Financial to Strong-Buy Rating

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Evercore set a $77.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.33.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH stock traded down $2.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.63. The company had a trading volume of 412,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 987,904. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $59.27 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.46.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 7.73%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total transaction of $2,510,401.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 260,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,917,154.61. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $272,939.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,844.40. The trade was a 7.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 47,622 shares of company stock worth $3,640,273 over the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 265.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 402 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 194.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single?family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high?performance features aimed at reducing long?term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.