Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Acquired by Mizuho Markets Americas LLC

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 10.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 156,858 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 15,448 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $32,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,874 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 11.6% in the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,898 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,210,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter worth $215,000. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at $10,486,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of MTH stock opened at $179.41 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $137.70 and a 1-year high of $213.98. The company has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MTH. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

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.