Artemis Investment Management LLP Sells 57,717 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Artemis Investment Management LLP lowered its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,983 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 57,717 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $22,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth approximately $61,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upped their price objective 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 shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock 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, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.6 %

MTH stock opened at $196.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $213.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $194.36 and a 200 day moving average of $179.12.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,793.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were 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 owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by 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.