Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lowered its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,758 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 4,819 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC's holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $4,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,961 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,222,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 73,469 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $15,066,000 after purchasing an additional 24,362 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 70.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 171.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 57,786 shares of the construction company's stock worth $11,850,000 after acquiring an additional 36,466 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.00. The company had a trading volume of 474,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 861,860. The firm's fifty day moving average is $74.51 and its 200-day moving average is $85.74. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.71 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The company has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.