Hsbc Holdings PLC Boosts Stock Position in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 3,031.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 92,741 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,779 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $6,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,053,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Meritage Homes by 44.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $143,980,000 after acquiring an additional 609,866 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,299,000 after acquiring an additional 527,265 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after acquiring an additional 391,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sophron Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at about $17,613,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. UBS Group set a $86.00 price objective on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Zelman & Associates cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $74.83 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.81. Meritage Homes Corporation has a twelve month low of $58.03 and a twelve month high of $85.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,147.74. This trade represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.