Earnest Partners LLC Has $116.31 Million Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 718,607 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 17,843 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $116,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 40,352 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,029,000 after purchasing an additional 19,813 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 140.2% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,482 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 6,119 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 41.1% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,180 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 157.6% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,136,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of MTH stock opened at $200.45 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $193.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.40. The company has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued 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 firm 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%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.02 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their target price on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.