Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 21,092 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 244,776 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,092 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.67% of Meritage Homes worth $50,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 33.3% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,390 shares of the construction company's stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 1,347 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 91.7% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $742,000 after acquiring an additional 2,024 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Meritage Homes by 22.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,874 shares of the construction company's stock worth $2,259,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 7.3% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 10.6% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 95,218 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $16,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MTH. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.4 %

MTH traded down $0.69 during trading on Monday, reaching $190.08. 364,065 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 413,089. The stock has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $194.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.90. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $132.00 and a twelve month high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.17 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.