V Square Quantitative Management LLC Makes New $28,000 Investment in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 137 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. BOS Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 25.1% in the third quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC now owns 4,874 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.9% in the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 12,167 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,495,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 31.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,113 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after acquiring an additional 3,107 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $55,804,000 after acquiring an additional 239,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $193.64 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.80. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $196.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.71.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly 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. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.02 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,837,936.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,837,936.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,136,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $213.83.

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.