Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Announces $0.75 Quarterly Dividend

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the construction company on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th.

Meritage Homes has a payout ratio of 13.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $21.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.6%.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $203.55 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $210.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $188.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93.

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. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.