Insider Selling: Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) CAO Sells $79,066.03 in Stock

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,147.74. This trade represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Alison Sasser also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 24th, Alison Sasser sold 151 shares of Meritage Homes stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.80, for a total transaction of $11,596.80.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $59.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.97. Meritage Homes Corporation has a twelve month low of $58.03 and a twelve month high of $84.74. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.43.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SummitTX Capital L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.1% during the first quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 471,614 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,165,000 after buying an additional 65,540 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at approximately $916,000. Callodine Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,348,000. Entropy Technologies LP grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 485.4% in the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 28,324 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 23,486 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 27.9% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 49,591 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,067,000 after purchasing an additional 10,823 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.89.

Meritage Homes News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Meritage Homes this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research cut earnings estimates across multiple future periods for Meritage Homes, including Q1 2027, Q2 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2027, FY2027, and FY2028, while keeping a Strong Sell rating. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks also published a bearish “Bear of the Day” note, saying the company’s post-earnings estimate cuts since its April 22 report justify a Zacks Rank #5 outlook. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling added to the cautious tone, as CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares in a disclosed SEC filing, reducing her position by 14.29%.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s most recent earnings report was already weak, with EPS of $0.86 missing estimates and revenue of $1.12 billion coming in well below expectations, which continues to weigh on investor sentiment.

About Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.