LGT Group Foundation Purchases 906 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

LGT Group Foundation grew its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,432 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,989,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the 4th 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 period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Archer Investment Corp grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 42.1% in the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 235.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MTH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $70.78 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 1.88. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12-month low of $70.28 and a 12-month high of $106.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. Analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.