Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) CFO Hilla Sferruzza Sells 2,500 Shares

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of MTH opened at $191.31 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a one year low of $109.23 and a one year high of $210.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $174.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.93. The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the second quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,753 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,700,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $388,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $22,887,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MTH. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.60.

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.