Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Bought by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 1,033.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 272 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $44,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 157.6% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth about $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 149.6% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 694 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush lifted their target price on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $204.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.20. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $210.58.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.99%.

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.