Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH Shares Bought by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 16.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 675,770 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,570 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $41,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 808 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,916 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,147.74. The trade was a 14.29% 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. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.1%

MTH stock opened at $75.77 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.39. Meritage Homes Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.03 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

About Meritage Homes

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.