Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Announces Earnings Results

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.12% and a net margin of 12.29%.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE:MTH traded down $1.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $79.55. 74,626 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 955,355. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $86.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.47. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $73.05 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.87.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.38.

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.