Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Boosts Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 264.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,259 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,166 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $116,307,000 after buying an additional 17,843 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Meritage Homes by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $86,091,000 after buying an additional 58,350 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,133,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $55,804,000 after buying an additional 239,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 227,300 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $36,789,000 after buying an additional 10,900 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded down $3.00 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.85. The stock had a trading volume of 589,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,473. The firm has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $137.70 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The business's 50-day moving average is $194.14 and its 200 day moving average is $183.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is 13.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Company 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.