Swiss National Bank Sells 300 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,900 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.20% of Meritage Homes worth $14,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $215,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $2,359,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in Meritage Homes by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,136 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LP increased its position in Meritage Homes by 97.2% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 10,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,821,000 after buying an additional 5,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MTH. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $184.44 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $137.70 and a twelve month high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for 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%. Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

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.