Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 192,234 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 52,542 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $29,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 18.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 986 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

MTH opened at $72.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.15 and its 200-day moving average is $89.92. The stock has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.88. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $71.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.