Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Downgraded by Raymond James to Market Perform

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was downgraded by analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, FinViz reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $186.62 on Thursday. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $129.42 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $183.05. The stock has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 1.82. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.98 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth approximately $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.