12,008 Shares in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Purchased by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,008 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $2,462,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter valued at $64,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $220.17.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH traded up $2.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $183.44. The company had a trading volume of 636,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,836. The company's 50-day moving average is $195.80 and its 200-day moving average is $182.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The company has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $126.46 and a twelve month high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is 13.58%.

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.