Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 13,812 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,190 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,812 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Meritage Homes worth $5,576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% during 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 raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 13.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 58,350 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.8% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company's stock worth $51,133,000 after acquiring an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company's stock worth $55,804,000 after acquiring an additional 239,511 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 227,300 shares of the construction company's stock worth $36,789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH traded up $2.14 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $185.58. The stock had a trading volume of 338,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,548. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $129.42 and a 1 year high of $213.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $195.80 and a 200 day moving average of $182.49. The company has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40 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, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. 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 note on Wednesday, August 14th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $220.17.

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.