Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the construction company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38.

Meritage Homes has a payout ratio of 13.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $10.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of MTH stock opened at $74.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $80.59 and a 200 day moving average of $90.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.88. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $71.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MTH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. This trade represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,531 shares of company stock valued at $111,355 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% 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.