Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by 102.7% in Q1, owning approximately 1.37% of the company after acquiring an additional 499,063 shares.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Meritage Homes, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $87.71, while Bank of America and Zelman & Associates rated it a "buy" and "strong-buy," respectively.
• Meritage Homes recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, providing a yield of 2.2% and a payout ratio of 15.47%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 102.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 985,239 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 499,063 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.37% of Meritage Homes worth $69,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company's stock worth $567,032,000 after buying an additional 3,925,148 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 94.1% in the first 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 75.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 710,281 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,345,000 after acquiring an additional 304,427 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Meritage Homes by 95.9% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 598,694 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $42,435,000 after purchasing an additional 293,089 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 61.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 571,120 shares of the construction company's stock worth $87,850,000 after purchasing an additional 217,618 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Meritage Homes in a report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $87.71.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Dennis V. Arriola bought 2,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.00 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,512 shares in the company, valued at $665,840. This represents a 30.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Keough purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $66.16 per share, for a total transaction of $264,640.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 41,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,758,872. The trade was a 10.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded up $1.40 on Tuesday, hitting $78.63. 178,954 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 983,103. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.65. 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 company has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.29. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $106.99.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is 15.47%.

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.