Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Earns Neutral Rating from Wedbush

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by Wedbush in a report issued on Tuesday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $103.00 price target on the construction company’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 32.31% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.38.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Meritage Homes stock traded up $1.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $77.85. 76,569 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 982,586. The company has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $73.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $85.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.20.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. Equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 10.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 14,589 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at $92,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Meritage Homes by 241.9% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,614 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 13,207 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,032,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.