Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $1.18 Million Position in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 95.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,588 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,094 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $1,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 235.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at about $279,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 2,199.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 305,605 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $47,008,000 after buying an additional 292,317 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,293 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,218,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

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 acquired at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,758,872. This represents a 10.61% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.7%

MTH opened at $70.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The company has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.06. Meritage Homes Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 11.50%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.06 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MTH. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.72.

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.

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