The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $100.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $117.50 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price objective (down from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.38.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $80.69 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $73.05 and a 52-week high of $106.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.24 and a 200 day moving average of $92.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a PE ratio of 7.31 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current 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. 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 analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 11.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased 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 valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is 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.