Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $3.80 Million Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,725 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 11,931 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $3,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted 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 worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.72.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 1.4 %

Meritage Homes stock traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.22. The stock had a trading volume of 460,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,270. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $68.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $59.27 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.50.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued 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 analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.06 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is 14.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.