Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 1,257 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 5th, 2023

Lazard Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) by 42.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,738 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,257 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,216,167 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $334,047,000 after purchasing an additional 23,652 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,316,547 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,450,000 after purchasing an additional 7,448 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 870,721 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $63,127,000 after purchasing an additional 4,989 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 815,481 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 36,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 792,985 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,723,000 after purchasing an additional 58,426 shares during the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH opened at $109.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $104.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.94. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $62.51 and a 1-year high of $117.22. The company has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.56.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The construction company reported $7.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 27.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 12.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $106.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $87.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 345 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total value of $39,385.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 880 shares in the company, valued at $100,460.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total transaction of $39,385.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 880 shares in the company, valued at $100,460.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total transaction of $88,588.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $412,688.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,283 shares of company stock worth $145,894 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

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Meritage Homes Corp. designs and builds single family homes. It offers variety of entry-level and first move-up homes. The firm operates through the following segments: Homebuilding and Financial Services. The Homebuilding segment acquires constructs and markets single-detached houses. The Financial Services segment includes the operations of the company’s subsidiary, Carefree Title.