Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen
by Tristan Rich · The Markets DailyMeritage Homes (NYSE:MTH – Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.
A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $95.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.33.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MTH
Meritage Homes Stock Performance
NYSE MTH opened at $66.53 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.73.
Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 7.73% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes
In other news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 10,928 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $834,352.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,540,772.35. This trade represents a 8.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total transaction of $272,939.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,844.40. This trade represents a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 47,622 shares of company stock valued at $3,640,273 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 11.4% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,559 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 808 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Meritage Homes
Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.
The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.