Summit Global Investments Lowers Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Summit Global Investments lowered its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 56.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,305 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,200 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MTH. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings 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 $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased 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 worth $104,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 3,044.8% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 912 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the company’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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 4.3 %

NYSE MTH opened at $73.37 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.79. The stock has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.92. 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.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. Equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.