Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,872 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% during 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 buying an additional 239,511 shares in the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,303,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,495,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,887,000. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth approximately $23,106,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $190.52 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $129.42 and a 1-year high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.16 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

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.