Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Stock Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 74.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,433 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 243,167 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.24% of Meritage Homes worth $17,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $55,804,000 after purchasing an additional 239,511 shares during the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at $32,303,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the first quarter worth $25,495,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth $22,887,000. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at $23,106,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH traded up $1.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $179.59. 8,238 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,040. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12-month low of $137.70 and a 12-month high of $213.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.24. 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 company has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.07 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.98 EPS. Meritage Homes's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MTH shares. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes 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.