Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 5.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 424,462 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 23,232 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $68,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% in the second quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. DMC Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.5% in the second quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.4% in the second quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 8,358 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $196.85 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $109.23 and a twelve month high of $210.58. The company has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18 and a beta of 1.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.02 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.83 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.