Shellback Capital LP Trims Position in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• Shelback Capital LP reduced its stake in Meritage Homes by 24.5%, now owning approximately 45,484 shares valued at $3.22 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Crossmark Global Holdings and Salem Investment Counselors, have increased their positions in Meritage Homes during the same quarter.
• Meritage Homes announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.1%, to be paid on September 30th.

Shellback Capital LP cut its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 24.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,484 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 14,758 shares during the period. Shellback Capital LP owned about 0.06% of Meritage Homes worth $3,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 100.0% in the first 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 period. Assetmark Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased 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 purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH traded down $3.04 on Tuesday, hitting $79.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 665,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 931,107. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12-month low of $59.27 and a 12-month high of $106.99. The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $74.11 and a 200-day moving average of $70.09.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is 15.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wedbush dropped their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value 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. This represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,200 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.00 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $665,840. This represents a 30.09% 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.