Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 4,831 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 246,813 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 4,831 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.34% of Meritage Homes worth $37,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 235.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company's stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the construction company's stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Meritage Homes from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:MTH traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $64.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 331,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,033. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.05. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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%. Research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes's payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. This represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.