Intech Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 65.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $3,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth $64,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $184.44 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52 week low of $137.70 and a 52 week high of $213.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $192.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.28.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

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.