7,500 Shares in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,500 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 235.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3,044.8% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 912 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $70.36 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 1.92. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $68.93 and a 12 month high of $106.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released 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 return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on 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 news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. This represents a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by 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.