Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Given New $197.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $173.00 to $197.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the construction company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential downside of 1.76% from the company’s previous close.

MTH has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.83.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH stock traded up $7.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $200.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 182,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,312. The business has a fifty day moving average of $171.73 and a 200-day moving average of $166.31. The stock has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $109.23 and a twelve month high of $205.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 18.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 20.27 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,164,000 after purchasing an additional 26,682 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $86,091,000 after purchasing an additional 58,350 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,118 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,153,000 after buying an additional 10,885 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth about $76,297,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 260,541 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $45,386,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.