Wedbush Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,RTT News reports. They presently have a $103.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $205.00. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 35.31% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 2.2 %

MTH opened at $76.12 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $73.05 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The company has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $89.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.63.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,804,000 after buying an additional 239,511 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,029,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth $36,365,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $71,206,000 after purchasing an additional 148,898 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 26.9% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $99,081,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.