Leuthold Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Leuthold Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,932 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,266 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $4,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 125.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 509 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,531 shares of company stock valued at $111,355. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MTH. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $73.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $80.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.04. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $71.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

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.