Fisher Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Fisher Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 96.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,696 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 648,611 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $1,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at about $75,148,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $95,299,000 after purchasing an additional 527,265 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,477,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,000,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $66,970,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after buying an additional 391,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. UBS Group set a $95.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.33.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $67.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $73.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.38. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $84.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 7.73%.The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total value of $2,510,401.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 260,389 shares in the company, valued at $19,917,154.61. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 10,928 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $834,352.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,540,772.35. The trade was a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,622 shares of company stock worth $3,640,273. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.