Atria Investments Inc Increases Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 60.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,462 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Comerica Bank raised its position in Meritage Homes by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 79,358 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,924,000 after buying an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 204.5% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,378 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,495,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the first quarter worth approximately $23,106,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,359,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $178.27 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $193.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.24. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $137.70 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.07 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.17.

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.