Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH Holdings Raised by Empowered Funds LLC

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC nearly doubled its Meritage Homes stake in the first quarter, acquiring 28,964 additional shares for a total of 58,104 shares valued at approximately $3.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 98.44% of the company.
• Meritage Homes reported quarterly EPS of $1.42, beating estimates of $1.30, while revenue fell 14.1% year over year to $1.41 billion. The stock was trading at $72.34, up 3.1%.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, equivalent to a 2.7% annualized yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $79.25.

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 99.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,104 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,964 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.09% of Meritage Homes worth $3,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. SummitTX Capital L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.1% during the first quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 471,614 shares of the construction company's stock worth $29,165,000 after purchasing an additional 65,540 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 1st quarter valued at about $916,000. Callodine Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter valued at about $8,348,000. Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 485.4% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 28,324 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,752,000 after acquiring an additional 23,486 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 27.9% during the first quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 49,591 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,067,000 after acquiring an additional 10,823 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 3.1%

Meritage Homes stock opened at $72.34 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $85.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.44.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 7.13% and a net margin of 6.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.17%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $79,066.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,147.74. The trade was a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MTH. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Bank of America cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Meritage Homes from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.25.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company's core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.

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