Vision Capital Corp Makes New Investment in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Vision Capital Corp bought a new stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 67,750 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $13,893,000. Meritage Homes makes up about 2.2% of Vision Capital Corp's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Vision Capital Corp owned about 0.19% of Meritage Homes as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company's stock worth $116,307,000 after acquiring an additional 17,843 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,732 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew 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 buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 239,511 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research raised 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 report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded up $11.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $195.86. 400,148 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 411,039. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 1.82. The stock's fifty day moving average is $192.28 and its 200 day moving average is $184.31. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $137.70 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Meritage Homes shares are scheduled to split before the market opens on Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, December 31st.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is currently 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.