Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $74.78 Million Stock Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 486,176 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,859 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.67% of Meritage Homes worth $74,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MTH. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $363,714,000 after purchasing an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $99,081,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 405,854 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,429,000 after purchasing an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,206,000 after purchasing an additional 148,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 286,105 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,009,000 after purchasing an additional 13,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meritage Homes news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 approximately $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 3.4 %

MTH opened at $74.99 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $69.26 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.44 and a 200-day moving average of $88.70. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 5.74 and a beta of 1.92.

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

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.16%.

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.