American Century Companies Inc. Sells 125,601 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 29.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 300,079 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 125,601 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.41% of Meritage Homes worth $46,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $850,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 150.2% in the 4th quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 9,399 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 5,642 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $469,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 97.4% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 23,802 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,661,000 after purchasing an additional 11,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the construction company's stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded up $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $71.00. The stock had a trading volume of 474,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 861,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The business's 50-day moving average price is $74.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.74. The stock has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.92. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.71 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

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.