Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Acquires 13,538 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 67.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,536 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,538 shares during the quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC owned 0.09% of Meritage Homes worth $5,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,300.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 717,578 shares of the construction company's stock worth $102,090,000 after buying an additional 666,349 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,473,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 252.9% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 488,657 shares of the construction company's stock worth $45,054,000 after buying an additional 350,204 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 6,472.4% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,161 shares of the construction company's stock worth $38,316,000 after buying an additional 323,168 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 327.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 351,259 shares of the construction company's stock worth $41,013,000 after buying an additional 269,054 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE MTH traded up $1.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $164.59. The stock had a trading volume of 487,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,255. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $159.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.06. The firm has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.26 and a beta of 1.76. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $179.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.18 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.72 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MTH. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Wedbush downgraded Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $172.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total transaction of $35,340.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,859 shares of the company's stock, valued at $284,408.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total value of $35,340.69. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,859 shares of the company's stock, valued at $284,408.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.