Insider Selling: Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) CAO Sells 676 Shares of Stock

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This trade represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Alison Sasser also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 12th, Alison Sasser sold 260 shares of Meritage Homes stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $19,055.40.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $73.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.05 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $80.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.02. The company has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.88.

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

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 11.47%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd 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. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 125.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 509 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

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.