Xponance Inc. Acquires 64 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,288 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 157.6% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 149.6% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 694 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $205.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $194.28 and a 200-day moving average of $177.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MTH. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target 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. Four research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.