Fox Run Management L.L.C. Acquires New Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 4,464 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $687,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth about $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3,044.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 912 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH opened at $73.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.92. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1 year low of $68.93 and a 1 year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547. 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.