Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on MTH. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $97.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $75.72. 2,014,184 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,486,092. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.83. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $73.89 and a 52 week high of $106.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.68.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,288 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.1% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.