Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Bought by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,320 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Meritage Homes worth $3,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at $61,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 149.6% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 694 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wedbush increased their target price on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,136,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were 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 directly owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,136,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $196.42 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $109.23 and a 1 year high of $213.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.12. The firm has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.80.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. 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.