Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $230.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $208.00.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $179.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 1.80. The business’s 50 day moving average is $175.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $210.58.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.02 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 20.83 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,288 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes by 4.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during 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.