Corebridge Financial Inc. Acquires 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 stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 96.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 166.5% in 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 boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 77.7% in 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 Meritage Homes by 329.9% in the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 619 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 246.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 634 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MTH. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.71.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH traded up $1.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,106,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 985,024. 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 stock has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $73.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.96.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is presently 15.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $556,069.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Keough bought 4,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $66.16 per share, with a total value of $264,640.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,758,872. This represents a 10.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

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.