Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the construction company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38.

Meritage Homes has a payout ratio of 13.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $10.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH traded up $0.97 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $74.22. The stock had a trading volume of 583,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 959,834. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $71.05 and a 52 week high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.88.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

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.