Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded to “Hold” at Seaport Res Ptn

Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $76.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $69.26 and a 52-week high of $106.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.13.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,539,000 after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares in the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,973,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 264.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,259 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares in the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,338,000. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,883,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.