State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $2.01 Million Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,035 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 708 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 125.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 509 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp increased its position in Meritage Homes by 42.1% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,531 shares of company stock worth $111,355 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $73.84 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.88. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $71.05 and a 12-month high of $106.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $80.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.04.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

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.