Millennium Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 282% in Q1, acquiring an additional 385,997 shares, bringing its total ownership to 522,872 shares valued at approximately $37 million.
• Meritage Homes reported a Q2 earnings per share (EPS) of $2.04, exceeding analysts' estimates, but experienced a 4.6% decrease in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.2%, scheduled for payment on September 30th.

Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 282.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 522,872 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 385,997 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.73% of Meritage Homes worth $37,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,439 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 136.0% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,901 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,248 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 100.7% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,325 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 15,218 shares during the last quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 182.0% in the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 1,255 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 151.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,202 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 221,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,707,813.20. This represents a 3.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola acquired 2,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.00 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $665,840. The trade was a 30.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 2.7%

Meritage Homes stock traded down $2.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $78.85. 706,607 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 894,387. The company has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.09 and a beta of 1.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a twelve month low of $59.27 and a twelve month high of $106.99. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $74.60 and a 200-day moving average of $70.23.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MTH shares. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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 report on Monday, July 28th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.71.

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.