Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,555 Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,555 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $510,374,000 after acquiring an additional 151,946 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 826,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $144,027,000 after purchasing an additional 12,841 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,797,000 after purchasing an additional 143,440 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $91,164,000 after purchasing an additional 26,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,118 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,153,000 after purchasing an additional 10,885 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH traded up $1.08 on Thursday, reaching $155.64. 189,859 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 511,078. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $165.65. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $109.23 and a 52-week high of $189.96. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MTH shares. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $178.25.

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.