Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Moran Wealth Management LLC

Moran Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,207 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 651 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC owned 0.06% of Meritage Homes worth $7,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. 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 in the last quarter. 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 in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 235.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE MTH opened at $74.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.70. The company has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.74 and a beta of 1.92. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $69.26 and a 12 month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its 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 net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

About Meritage Homes

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.