Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 8,166 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 264.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,259 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,462,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,508,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 36.9% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 2,745 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the period. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $3,163,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $180.85 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $132.00 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The company has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 1.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $194.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.98 EPS. Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.17.

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.