Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 48.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 8,225 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $4,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,821 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 6.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,979 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $242,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 2,438 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the third quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 4,308 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. 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 note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush cut Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $155.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.04. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $179.68. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.18 by $0.20. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total value of $54,176.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $132,618.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.