Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Stock Price Down 5.1% – What’s Next?

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)’s share price dropped 5.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $168.11 and last traded at $168.36. Approximately 191,241 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 406,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $197.00 target price (down from $220.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $215.14.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 5.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.82. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $187.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.87.

Meritage Homes shares are set to split on the morning of Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, December 31st.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.