Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Short Interest Update

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) saw a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 652,900 shares, a decrease of 21.1% from the March 31st total of 827,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 433,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total transaction of $35,340.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,408.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,842,000 after buying an additional 13,538 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,205,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after purchasing an additional 8,225 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 388.4% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 42,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,140,000 after purchasing an additional 33,400 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 38.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,029 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,368,000 after purchasing an additional 14,362 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MTH shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Thursday. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of MTH stock traded up $4.41 on Friday, hitting $169.48. The stock had a trading volume of 593,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,394. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $159.56 and its 200-day moving average is $153.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $109.23 and a 52-week high of $179.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 19.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

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.