Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Purchases 27,402 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 95.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,160 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 27,402 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.08% of Meritage Homes worth $3,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 246.4% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 634 shares of the construction company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other news, Director Joseph Keough acquired 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 approximately $2,758,872. This trade represents a 10.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Monday, May 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $96.13.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.6%

MTH traded down $1.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $69.91. The company had a trading volume of 924,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 887,586. The company has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 1.37. Meritage Homes Corporation has a one year low of $59.27 and a one year high of $106.99. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $67.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.06%.

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.