Wedbush Increases Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $160.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target hoisted by Wedbush from $148.00 to $160.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the construction company’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meritage Homes’ Q4 2024 earnings at $4.31 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $20.51 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $21.10 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $23.14 EPS.

MTH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. They set an outperform rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $196.83.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE MTH opened at $202.07 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $172.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $205.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.02 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 20.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,164,000 after purchasing an additional 26,682 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 13.5% in the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $86,091,000 after buying an additional 58,350 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,118 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $80,153,000 after purchasing an additional 10,885 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $76,297,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 260,541 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $45,386,000 after acquiring an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.