Key Highlights

• Meritage Homes' Dividend rises 12% to $0.48 per share, trading with a September 15, 2026 record date, payable September 30.

• Second-quarter home-closing Revenue fell 14% to approximately $1.39 billion, with net Earnings of $90.6 million, or $1.37 diluted EPS, down from a year earlier but ahead of the $1.30 analyst consensus.

• Home orders declined 9% to 3,575, and home-closing gross Margin fell to 18.3% from 21.1%, which the company attributed to lower Leverage and higher lot costs.

• The company returned $131 million to shareholders in the quarter through dividends and $100 million of share repurchases, and plans to continue at least $55 million of quarterly Buybacks for the remainder of 2026.

Meritage Homes' (NYSE:MTH) dividend rises 12% to $0.48 per share, trading with a September 15 Record Date and September 30 payment date. Management said the company returned $292 million of Capital to shareholders in the first half of 2026, equivalent to 201% of total earnings for the period, while maintaining its full-year community-growth outlook even as orders and margins softened.

Dividend Program and Shareholder Returns

Meritage declared a $0.48 per share quarterly dividend, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 15, a 12% increase from $0.43 in 2025. The annualized regular dividend is $1.92 per share. The company's Cash Dividend totaled $31 million for the quarter and $63 million year to date, a relatively modest outlay against the $100 million of share repurchases completed in the same period, underscoring that buybacks remain the larger of the company's two capital-return channels even as the dividend itself continues to grow at a double-digit annual pace.

About the Company

Meritage Homes is the fifth-largest U.S. public homebuilder by 2025 closings, focusing on energy-efficient entry-level and first-move-up homes across Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, Texas and several other states.

Financial Performance Behind the Payout

Meritage reported second-quarter home-closing revenue of approximately $1.4 billion, down 14% from a year earlier, on 3,725 homes closed at a 4% lower average sales price of $373,000. Net earnings were $90.6 million, or $1.37 diluted EPS, down 38% year over year, while adjusted diluted EPS was $1.42, beating the $1.30 analyst consensus. Home orders decreased 9% to 3,575, with order value down 11% to $1.38 billion. Home-closing gross margin fell to 18.3% from 21.1%, which the company attributed mainly to lower leverage and higher lot costs, though adjusted gross margin improved sequentially to 18.6% from 17.8% in the first quarter. The company held $807 million in cash at June 30 with no borrowings on its revolving Credit facility.

Capital Return and Land Position

Executive Chairman Steven Hilton said second-quarter orders totaled 3,575, down 9% from a year earlier, with average absorption pace of 3.5 net sales per community per month compared with 4.3 a year earlier. The company secured nearly 1,700 net new lots under control during the quarter and held approximately 73,200 owned or controlled lots as of June 30. Management said it will pare back share repurchases slightly to a minimum of $55 million per quarter for the remainder of 2026 while retaining flexibility to buy additional shares opportunistically.

Outlook

The dividend increase alongside a 38% earnings decline suggests the board is weighing full-cycle cash generation over the current quarter's compressed margins. The third-quarter guidance range of 3,300-3,600 closings and $1.10-$1.30 diluted EPS is the next test of whether the sequential margin improvement continues.