Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $613,000 Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,518 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 790 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 31.5% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,344 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 4,390 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $536,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 75,799 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,277,000 after buying an additional 809 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 213,643 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $26,148,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Finally, Capula Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth approximately $884,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $178.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $174.52 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.75. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $189.96.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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. On average, research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.99%.

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.