Wedbush Reiterates Underperform Rating for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $148.00 target price on the construction company’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 4.32% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Seaport Res Ptn cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 2.2 %

MTH stock opened at $154.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $159.01 and a 200-day moving average of $152.49. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $179.68.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 17.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $121,638.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,842,000 after acquiring an additional 13,538 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth $3,205,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 48.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 388.4% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 42,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,140,000 after acquiring an additional 33,400 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,029 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,368,000 after acquiring an additional 14,362 shares during the period. 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.