Venturi Wealth Management LLC Takes $92,000 Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 600 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MTH. CWM LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the 3rd 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 period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 18.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 986 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MTH. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $73.84 on Monday. The stock 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 52-week low of $71.05 and a 52-week high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.88.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.47%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,531 shares of company stock valued at $111,355. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.