Edgestream Partners L.P. Purchases New Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 37,856 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,823,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,531,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,218,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,293 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 3,481 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 2,199.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 305,605 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,008,000 after acquiring an additional 292,317 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price 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. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $76.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.49 and its 200 day moving average is $89.13. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $69.26 and a 12 month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.