Strs Ohio Increases Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Strs Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 94.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,200 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,300 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $3,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter worth $29,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth $38,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter worth $48,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 339.8% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 108.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,337 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH opened at $150.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.53 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $159.14 and a 200 day moving average of $151.23. 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 quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.18 by $0.20. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 17.03%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Meritage Homes

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.