Cerity Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 1,315 Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,315 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 67.7% in the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,842,000 after purchasing an additional 13,538 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 17,318.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,043 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,317 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,668,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 48.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,396,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MTH. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $169.48 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a one year low of $109.23 and a one year high of $179.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 19.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $121,638.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes 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.