Strs Ohio Sells 1,100 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Strs Ohio decreased its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,000 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $70,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 31.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 30,560 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 7,245 shares in the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 2.6% in the second quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 14,005 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.6% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 47,960 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,477,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,413,000. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 110.8% in the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 51,158 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,709,000 after purchasing an additional 26,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $100.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $91.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.88. Meritage Homes Co. has a one year low of $62.51 and a one year high of $107.72.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 26th. The construction company reported $7.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 16.68% and a return on equity of 29.08%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 26.57 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $87.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $130.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

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Meritage Homes Corp. designs and builds single family homes. It offers variety of entry-level and first move-up homes. The firm operates through the following segments: Homebuilding and Financial Services. The Homebuilding segment acquires constructs and markets single-detached houses. The Financial Services segment includes the operations of the company’s subsidiary, Carefree Title.