Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $7.62 Million Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 43,742 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 382 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $7,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $510,374,000 after buying an additional 151,946 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 826,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $144,027,000 after buying an additional 12,841 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,797,000 after buying an additional 143,440 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.8% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 689,600 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $84,400,000 after purchasing an additional 61,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 36.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 449,233 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $54,982,000 after purchasing an additional 118,818 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 4.0 %

Meritage Homes stock opened at $158.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $179.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.18 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 17.03%. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total value of $54,176.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.