Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Acquired by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) by 67.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,565 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,159 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.10% of Meritage Homes worth $2,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 139.2% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 476 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 71.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 647 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 66.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 767 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 51.5% in the second quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 1,383 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $87.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $104.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $129.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.86.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 2.4 %

MTH stock opened at $106.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $62.51 and a 52-week high of $117.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.98 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 32.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 12.97 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total value of $88,588.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $412,688.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meritage Homes news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total value of $88,588.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $412,688.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total transaction of $39,385.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 880 shares in the company, valued at $100,460.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,683 shares of company stock valued at $1,290,994 in the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Meritage Homes

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Meritage Homes Corp. engages in the design and construction of single family attached and detached homes. It operates through the Homebuilding and Financial Services segments. The Homebuilding segment acquires and develops lands, constructs homes, markets and sells those homes, and provides warranty and customer services.