Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 4,838 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 111,115 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,838 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.15% of Meritage Homes worth $17,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Castellan Group raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Castellan Group now owns 33,585 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 30,322 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,664,000 after purchasing an additional 8,271 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $372,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,628 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 118.4% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,838 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after purchasing an additional 8,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,531 shares of company stock valued at $111,355. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.5 %

MTH opened at $73.84 on Monday. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.05 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $80.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.04. The company has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.88.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.47%.

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.