Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) PT Raised to $197.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its target price lifted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $173.00 to $197.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the construction company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 1.76% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.83.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH traded up $7.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $200.52. The stock had a trading volume of 182,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,312. The company’s fifty day moving average is $171.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $205.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 18.28%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 20.27 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at $76,297,000. Long Pond Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at $32,303,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at $25,495,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at $23,106,000. Finally, Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 216.7% in the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 190,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,337,000 after buying an additional 130,000 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.