Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Cut to $118.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $126.00 to $118.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the construction company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 60.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MTH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective (down previously from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded down $1.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $73.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 963,390. The company has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.87. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $73.40 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.74.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meritage Homes by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,196,000 after buying an additional 21,092 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at about $16,056,000. Castellan Group boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 31,981 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $435,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% 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.