T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Sells 324,790 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 38.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 524,318 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 324,790 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.72% of Meritage Homes worth $80,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position 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 worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth about $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 235.1% during 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 last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the construction company's stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the topic of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $103.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the purchase, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547 over the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE MTH traded down $0.89 on Thursday, reaching $67.25. The stock had a trading volume of 163,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 883,739. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.69.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.02). Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.06 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is 14.06%.

About Meritage Homes

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.