Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Chairman Purchases $819,610.00 in Stock

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was 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 at this hyperlink.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH stock opened at $73.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $72.19 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The firm has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.86.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MTH. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

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.