Raymond James Initiates Coverage on Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

Equities researchers at Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the construction company’s stock. Raymond James’ price target suggests a potential upside of 13.90% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.33.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $193.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $205.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.31.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.02 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 20.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $91,164,000 after buying an additional 26,682 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $86,091,000 after purchasing an additional 58,350 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,118 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,153,000 after purchasing an additional 10,885 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter worth $76,297,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 260,541 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $45,386,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the period. 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.