Corebridge Financial Inc. Purchases 18,399 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• Corebridge Financial Inc. increased its shareholding in Meritage Homes Corporation by 96.1% during the first quarter, now owning approximately $2.66 million worth of shares.
• Institutional investors now hold 98.44% of Meritage Homes' stock, with other significant changes from investors like MetLife, which boosted its stake by 705%.
• Meritage Homes recently declared a $0.43 quarterly dividend with a yield of 2.2%, set to be paid on September 30th to investors recorded by September 16th.

Corebridge Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 96.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,536 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 18,399 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of Meritage Homes worth $2,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in 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 last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 166.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 581 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Meritage Homes by 77.7% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 606 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 329.9% during the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 619 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 246.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 634 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 1.8%

MTH stock traded up $1.43 on Friday, reaching $82.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,585,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 866,647. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.00. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12-month low of $59.27 and a 12-month high of $106.99. The firm has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 7.46 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 2.1%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MTH. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Joseph Keough purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.16 per share, with a total value 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $556,069.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Company 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.