Aristides Capital LLC Buys New Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,450 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $116,307,000 after buying an additional 17,843 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $91,164,000 after acquiring an additional 26,682 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $86,091,000 after acquiring an additional 58,350 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $51,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $205.07 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $213.98. The company has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56 and a beta of 1.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $194.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

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.