Swedbank AB Has $4.66 Million Stock Position in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Key Points

• Swedbank AB cut its Meritage Homes stake by 18.6% in the first quarter, selling 17,205 shares and ending with 75,280 shares valued at about $4.66 million.
• Meritage Homes saw mixed analyst sentiment, with an average Wall Street rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.22. Recent moves included a downgrade from Zelman & Associates, while Citi and UBS reiterated or set bullish targets.
• The company’s latest earnings missed expectations, reporting $0.86 EPS versus the $0.98 consensus and revenue of $1.12 billion versus $1.55 billion expected. Despite that, the stock traded around $75.59 and the company continued paying a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share.

Swedbank AB lowered its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 18.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 75,280 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 17,205 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.11% of Meritage Homes worth $4,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 265.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 402 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 194.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the construction company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at $474,147.74. The trade was a 14.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Zelman & Associates lowered Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group set a $86.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.22.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $75.59. 808,422 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 972,833. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $70.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.91. The stock has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.03 and a 12 month high of $85.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. Meritage Homes's revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

About Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company's core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.

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