Lindbrook Capital LLC Increases Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 91.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 205 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $36,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,842,000 after acquiring an additional 13,538 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth about $3,205,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after buying an additional 8,225 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 388.4% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 42,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,140,000 after buying an additional 33,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 38.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,029 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,368,000 after buying an additional 14,362 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total value of $35,340.69. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,408.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the completion of 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of MTH stock opened at $169.48 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $109.23 and a 1 year high of $179.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.95. The company has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a PE ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 12.54%. Research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

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.