SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 438 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 47.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,364 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $116,307,000 after acquiring an additional 17,843 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 13.5% in the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $86,091,000 after acquiring an additional 58,350 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 0.8% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $51,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,460 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.0% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 227,300 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,789,000 after purchasing an additional 10,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 216.7% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 190,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,337,000 after purchasing an additional 130,000 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $213.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,837,936.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,837,936.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 1.0 %

MTH stock opened at $204.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes Co. has a one year low of $109.23 and a one year high of $213.98. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $196.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.60. 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 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. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. 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.