Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Acquires New Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 26,220 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $4,568,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC owned 0.07% of Meritage Homes at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 628 shares of the construction company's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 197 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 brokerages have issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Wedbush reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $172.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $121,638.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at $798,813.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $121,638.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at $798,813.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE:MTH traded down $1.71 on Monday, reaching $175.33. The stock had a trading volume of 828,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,285. The company has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 1.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $183.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $161.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.42.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 17.63%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.41 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

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.

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