Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Position Lifted by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,259 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $3,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MTH. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of MTH stock traded up $6.76 on Friday, hitting $184.44. The stock had a trading volume of 388,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 481,199. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82. The stock's 50 day moving average is $192.28 and its 200-day moving average is $184.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $137.70 and a 52-week high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Profile

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.