New York Life Investment Management LLC Has $515,000 Stock Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,957 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 3.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $510,374,000 after purchasing an additional 151,946 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 826,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $144,027,000 after purchasing an additional 12,841 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,797,000 after purchasing an additional 143,440 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 9.8% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 689,600 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $84,400,000 after purchasing an additional 61,594 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 36.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 449,233 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $54,982,000 after purchasing an additional 118,818 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 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 restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.25.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 the SEC website. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the company’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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $54,176.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, 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 valued at $635,171 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $181.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.71. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $109.23 and a twelve month high of $183.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced 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. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 17.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.41 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. 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 yield of 1.66%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 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.