Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Has $4.42 Million Stock Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lowered its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 28,758 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,819 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $4,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 235.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 3,044.8% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 912 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $72.74 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $68.93 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $75.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.44. 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 $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.92.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

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.