New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 679 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,589 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 679 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,147,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,029,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,365,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $71,206,000 after buying an additional 148,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 26.9% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after buying an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MTH shares. 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. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $72.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $79.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $71.05 and a 1-year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.