Royce & Associates LP Buys 26,345 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 63.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 68,051 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,345 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.09% of Meritage Homes worth $10,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 18.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 986 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,293 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,409 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $70.61 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.93 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.68.

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 return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio 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.