Amundi Purchases 12,598 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Amundi grew its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 188.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,281 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 12,598 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $363,714,000 after acquiring an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 489,035 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $100,286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,732 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 26.9% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $99,081,000 after acquiring an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 405,854 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $71,206,000 after purchasing an additional 148,898 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MTH. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $70.48 on Monday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52 week low of $68.93 and a 52 week high of $106.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.88.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.