Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 34.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $33,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 16,677 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,926,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,164,000 after acquiring an additional 26,682 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,452,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $951,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $160.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $169.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.78. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $189.96.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 17.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MTH. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.25.

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.