Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) by 25.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,476 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,379 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.07% of Meritage Homes worth $2,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at $267,000. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 3,590 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 819,751 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $75,581,000 after purchasing an additional 26,766 shares during the period. Finally, Carlson Capital L P raised its position in Meritage Homes by 3.0% during the third quarter. Carlson Capital L P now owns 153,045 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,754,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $121.38 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.79. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $62.51 and a twelve month high of $130.68.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The construction company reported $3.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $1.03. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 23.99% and a net margin of 14.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.79 EPS. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MTH shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $132.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $104.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $106.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $129.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.52, for a total transaction of $185,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 481 shares in the company, valued at $59,413.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.52, for a total value of $185,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,413.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $594,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 44,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,888,510. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,800 shares of company stock worth $2,071,177 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Profile

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Meritage Homes Corp. engages in the design and construction of single family attached and detached homes. It operates through the Homebuilding and Financial Services segments. The Homebuilding segment acquires and develops lands, constructs homes, markets and sells those homes, and provides warranty and customer services.