Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $4.10 to $4.60 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.67. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.50 billion to $1.59 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.54 billion.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.1 %

MTH traded down $3.94 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $180.54. 1,042,123 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 407,107. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $196.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.74. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James upped 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 lifted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $213.83.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.