Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires New Position in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,940 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $1,201,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,293 shares of the construction company's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,758 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, Director Joseph Keough purchased 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.16 per share, for a total transaction of $264,640.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 41,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,758,872. The trade was a 10.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America began coverage on Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.72.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded up $1.76 on Wednesday, reaching $72.73. The company had a trading volume of 503,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,070. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The firm has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $66.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.27.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.02). Meritage Homes had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 14.28%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.06 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio 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.