Inspire Investing LLC Sells 2,059 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Inspire Investing LLC lowered its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,172 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,059 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.1% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,126 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $203.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $192.42 and its 200 day moving average is $175.58. The company has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 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.