111 Capital Sells 4,554 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• 111 Capital significantly reduced its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by 54.5% during the second quarter, now holding 3,799 shares valued at approximately $254,000.
• Institutional investors collectively hold 98.44% of Meritage Homes' stock, with notable increases in positions from firms like Parallel Advisors LLC and Harbor Capital Advisors Inc..
• Analysts have mixed views on Meritage Homes, with some raising price targets while others, including JPMorgan, have downgraded their ratings, setting the average target price at $88.14.

111 Capital cut its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 54.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,799 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 4,554 shares during the quarter. 111 Capital's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes by 219.3% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 827 shares of the construction company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 98.2% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 26,179 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 12,972 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $221,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.7% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 246.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 634 shares of the construction company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MTH. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $88.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.00 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at $665,840. This trade represents a 30.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $556,069.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 221,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,707,813.20. This trade represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH stock opened at $72.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $102.91.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.60 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company's revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.15 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.47%.

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.

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