Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Announces Earnings Results

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The construction company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.12, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business’s revenue was down 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of MTH stock opened at $71.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.35. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $85.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.55.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $93.00 price objective (up from $82.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,147.74. This represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,903 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 81.5% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 5,537 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 2,487 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,291 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,140 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,917,000 after purchasing an additional 8,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 1,005.0% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 33,747 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,221,000 after purchasing an additional 30,693 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.