L & S Advisors Inc Invests $1.34 Million in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

L & S Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,524 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $1,338,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MTH. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company's stock worth $116,307,000 after buying an additional 17,843 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company's stock worth $51,133,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $55,804,000 after buying an additional 239,511 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company's stock worth $50,196,000 after buying an additional 21,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 227,300 shares of the construction company's stock worth $36,789,000 after buying an additional 10,900 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 3.8 %

Meritage Homes stock traded up $6.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $184.44. The company had a trading volume of 388,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 411,087. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $192.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $137.70 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The company has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.