Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 31.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,591 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,978 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $1,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MTH. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the fourth 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 stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 235.1% during the 4th 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. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, 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 value of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,353.99. This trade represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MTH. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group cut their price target 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, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $64.54 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $71.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.05. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.16%.

Meritage Homes 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.