Royce & Associates LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Royce & Associates LP lessened its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,706 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 2,862 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.12% of Meritage Homes worth $8,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at about $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MTH shares. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH stock traded down $1.97 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $177.44. 219,693 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 413,797. 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 has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $137.70 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $193.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.24.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.98 EPS. The company's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

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.