Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,472 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,288 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,472 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,288 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $184.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $192.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $137.70 and a 52-week high of $213.98. The company has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MTH shares. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Company 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.