Legal & General Group Plc Sells 37,232 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 181,773 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 37,232 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $11,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 44.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,980,000 after purchasing an additional 609,866 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,299,000 after purchasing an additional 527,265 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after purchasing an additional 391,297 shares in the last quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at approximately $21,729,000. Finally, Sophron Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at approximately $17,613,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group set a $86.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $67.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.03 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.71 and a 200-day moving average of $68.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.39.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 6.86%.The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,147.74. This trade represents a 14.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.