Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.27

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 16th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share by the construction company on Friday, December 29th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th.

Meritage Homes has a payout ratio of 5.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $19.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.5%.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $142.55 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $80.25 and a 12-month high of $152.55. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.69.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The construction company reported $5.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.88. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 19.23%. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 19.45 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $155.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,024 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 148.4% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 11,950 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 7,140 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 353,479 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,262,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 30.5% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,581 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 65.8% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,570 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.48% 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 first-time and first move-up buyers in Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.