Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Rating Increased to Hold at Seaport Res Ptn

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was upgraded by Seaport Res Ptn from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $76.70 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.13. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $69.26 and a 1-year high of $106.99. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,238,789.63. This represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth $92,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 235.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.