Phocas Financial Corp. Buys New Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Phocas Financial Corp. purchased a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,937 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,883,000. Phocas Financial Corp. owned approximately 0.05% of Meritage Homes as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,288 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $177.36 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $137.70 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $193.54 and a 200-day moving average of $184.27.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Meritage Homes Company 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.