Wedbush Reiterates Neutral Rating for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by equities researchers at Wedbush in a report released on Tuesday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $103.00 target price on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $205.00. Wedbush’s target price suggests a potential upside of 35.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on MTH. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $76.12 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $73.05 and a 1-year high of $106.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,196,000 after purchasing an additional 21,092 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at $16,056,000. Castellan Group boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 31,981 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth $230,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth about $435,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.