Versor Investments LP Lowers Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Versor Investments LP trimmed its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,345 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,103 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 157.6% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 149.6% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 694 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $189.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $210.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $183.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.97.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. Meritage Homes’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. 2.00% of the stock is 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.