Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $71.88 and last traded at $72.74, with a volume of 178954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 1.3 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,531 shares of company stock worth $111,355. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at about $92,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.