Royce & Associates LP Buys 26,345 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 63.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 68,051 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,345 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $10,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MTH. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $363,714,000 after buying an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 489,035 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $100,286,000 after purchasing an additional 5,732 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 26.9% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 405,854 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,429,000 after purchasing an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,206,000 after purchasing an additional 148,898 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.3 %

Meritage Homes stock opened at $70.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.92. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12-month low of $68.93 and a 12-month high of $106.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.91 and its 200 day moving average is $87.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. 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. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

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.