Sei Investments Co. Acquires 4,397 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,699 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,397 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $7,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth about $850,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 150.2% in the 4th quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 9,399 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 5,642 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $469,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Meritage Homes by 97.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 23,802 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,661,000 after purchasing an additional 11,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $70.87 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.95. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52 week low of $68.71 and a 52 week high of $106.99.

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

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MTH. UBS Group cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

About Meritage Homes

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.