Amundi Purchases 12,197 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• Amundi increased its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by 63.3% in Q1, purchasing an additional 12,197 shares to bring its total holdings to 31,478 shares.
• Meritage Homes reported $2.04 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a 10.27% net margin, although revenue decreased by 4.6% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.43 payable on September 30th, representing a dividend yield of 2.1% and a payout ratio of 15.47%.

Amundi lifted its position in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 63.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,478 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,197 shares during the quarter. Amundi's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company's stock worth $567,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,148 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 93.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company's stock worth $207,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,024 shares during the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 592.7% in the first quarter. Long Pond Capital LP now owns 1,125,995 shares of the construction company's stock worth $79,811,000 after purchasing an additional 963,438 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 278.1% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,071,802 shares of the construction company's stock worth $75,969,000 after acquiring an additional 788,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 94.1% during the 1st quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,434,368 shares of the construction company's stock worth $101,668,000 after acquiring an additional 695,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wedbush decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of MTH stock traded down $0.83 on Wednesday, hitting $75.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,198,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 870,906. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.29. The company has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a one year low of $59.27 and a one year high of $106.99.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is 15.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Meritage Homes 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.