Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 2,411 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 30.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,423 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $1,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,842,000 after acquiring an additional 13,538 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,205,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 388.4% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 42,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,140,000 after acquiring an additional 33,400 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 38.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,029 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,368,000 after acquiring an additional 14,362 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $178.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $180.59 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.54. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12-month low of $109.23 and a 12-month high of $183.78. The company has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 1.75. 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 results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.