Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc decreased its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,150 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 312 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Meritage Homes by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $363,714,000 after purchasing an additional 74,422 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 489,035 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $100,286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,732 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Meritage Homes by 26.9% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 405,854 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,429,000 after purchasing an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,206,000 after buying an additional 148,898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $70.61 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52 week low of $68.93 and a 52 week high of $106.99. 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 cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.91 and a 200-day moving average of $87.68.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted 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 net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm 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 an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.