State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 24.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,288 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,639 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $2,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 17,318.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth $76,297,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 40,352 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,029,000 after buying an additional 19,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 5.5 %

MTH stock opened at $213.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 1.81. 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 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $213.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $191.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.71.

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

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080 in the last ninety days. 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.