Jennison Associates LLC Takes $835,000 Position in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 12,694 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MTH. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,731,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,729,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 402,664 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,165,000 after acquiring an additional 46,554 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 90.1% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 119,754 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,804,000 after purchasing an additional 56,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,477,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $272,939.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,844.40. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total transaction of $2,510,401.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 260,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,917,154.61. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 47,622 shares of company stock worth $3,640,273 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MTH. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE MTH opened at $66.35 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.03 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.59 and a 200-day moving average of $69.43.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.12). Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 6.86%.The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were given a $0.48 dividend. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Meritage Homes Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single?family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high?performance features aimed at reducing long?term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.