First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Increases Position in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 181.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,766 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,647 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $567,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,148 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 93.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company's stock worth $207,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,024 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 4.0% during the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,491,955 shares of the construction company's stock worth $99,916,000 after purchasing an additional 57,587 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 95.7% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,352,648 shares of the construction company's stock worth $95,876,000 after purchasing an additional 661,310 shares during the period. Finally, Long Pond Capital LP raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 592.7% during 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 period. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $556,069.50. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MTH. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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 note on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Saturday. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $84.86.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $71.39 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $74.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.36. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $98.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.42.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

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

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.

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