Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by First National Bank of Hutchinson

First National Bank of Hutchinson lowered its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 13.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,267 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 501 shares during the quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $116,307,000 after purchasing an additional 17,843 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 13.5% in the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $86,091,000 after acquiring an additional 58,350 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $51,133,000 after acquiring an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,804,000 after acquiring an additional 239,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 227,300 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,136,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $213.83.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $183.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $196.80 and a 200-day moving average of $181.10. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $109.23 and a 52-week high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

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.