Bailard Inc. Increases Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Bailard Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 32.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 986 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew 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 purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,409 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,724,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Archer Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MTH shares. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $70.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.35. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12-month low of $70.28 and a 12-month 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Company 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.