Royce & Associates LP Purchases 26,345 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 63.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,051 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,345 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.09% of Meritage Homes worth $10,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MTH. State Street Corp lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $363,714,000 after purchasing an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 489,035 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $100,286,000 after buying an additional 5,732 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $99,081,000 after buying an additional 102,502 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 405,854 shares of the construction company's stock worth $62,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $71,206,000 after acquiring an additional 148,898 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MTH shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.5 %

MTH stock traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.37. The stock had a trading volume of 2,304,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 826,251. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 1.92. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $68.93 and a 52-week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

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.