Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 37,750 Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,750 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $5,807,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.05% of Meritage Homes as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $101,695,000. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,910,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2,199.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 305,605 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $47,008,000 after buying an additional 292,317 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 205.5% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 418,884 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $64,433,000 after buying an additional 281,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GRS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 225.5% in the fourth quarter. GRS Advisors LLC now owns 326,620 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,241,000 after buying an additional 226,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.72.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.63. 792,806 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 888,732. The business's 50 day moving average is $66.96 and its 200-day moving average is $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $59.27 and a 1-year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.06 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.06%.

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.