Inspire Investing LLC Sells 2,059 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 48.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,172 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,059 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 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 lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.4% during 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. DMC Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lifted 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. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 4.8 %

MTH stock opened at $203.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $192.42 and its 200 day moving average is $175.58.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

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.