Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH Shares Acquired by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 181.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,766 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 5,647 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 6,249 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at about $596,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 169.3% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,101 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 5,722 shares during the period. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,846 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $556,069.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 221,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,707,813.20. The trade was a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $100.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.86.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $71.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.36. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Meritage Homes Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $98.74.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 15.47%.

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.