Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,515,827 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 73% from the previous session’s volume of 875,764 shares.The stock last traded at $76.35 and had previously closed at $76.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MTH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on 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. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $97.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

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

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MTH. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.