Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,508,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 36.9% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 2,745 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at $3,163,000. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 10.4% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth about $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $183.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $195.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $126.46 and a twelve month high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

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.