6,800 Shares in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH Bought by Strs Ohio

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by purchasing 6,800 shares valued at approximately $482,000 during the first quarter.
• Significant investments from other funds include Vanguard Group increasing its stake by 96.3%, bringing its total shares to nearly 8 million after purchasing an additional 3.9 million shares.
• Meritage Homes recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43, with an annualized yield of 2.3%, to be paid on September 30th to shareholders of record.

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,800 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $482,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 166.5% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 581 shares of the construction company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 worth $43,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised 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 worth $44,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised 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 worth $45,000 after buying an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MTH. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $88.14.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE MTH traded down $2.28 on Monday, reaching $73.17. The stock had a trading volume of 974,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 870,829. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12-month low of $59.27 and a 12-month high of $103.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.25.

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 yield of 2.4%. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is presently 15.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.00 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $665,840. The trade was a 30.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $556,069.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 221,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,707,813.20. This trade represents a 3.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Company 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.