BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 23,088 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 67.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,268 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 23,088 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $1,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MTH. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,043 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,279,000 after acquiring an additional 32,810 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,002 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after buying an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 286,105 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,009,000 after buying an additional 13,983 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 130,301 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $20,043,000 after buying an additional 20,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,821 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.72.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $68.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $68.24 and its 200 day moving average is $78.23. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.06 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 14.06%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.