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

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the construction company on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th.

Meritage Homes has a dividend payout ratio of 14.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $21.47 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 14.0%.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH traded up $6.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $184.44. 388,057 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 410,548. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $137.70 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

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.