Royce & Associates LP Acquires 54,324 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by 79.8%, owning 122,375 shares valued at approximately $8.67 million, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Meritage Homes reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.99, despite a 4.6% decrease in year-over-year revenue.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.47%, highlighting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 79.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,375 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 54,324 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.17% of Meritage Homes worth $8,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,699 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $7,337,000 after acquiring an additional 4,397 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at $1,154,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 56.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 10,265 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 3,687 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,074,741 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $626,777,000 after acquiring an additional 26,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Joseph Keough purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.16 per share, for a total transaction of $264,640.00. Following 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.3%

MTH stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.18. The company had a trading volume of 298,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 975,352. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $106.99. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $67.57 and a 200 day moving average of $70.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.28.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $82.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.78.

Meritage Homes 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.