Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.83 Million in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 29,600 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,830,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at $1,880,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 84.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 107,394 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,779,000 after acquiring an additional 49,101 shares during the last quarter. Bayhunt Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter worth $7,922,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $143,980,000 after acquiring an additional 609,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 234.7% in the fourth quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,090 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,177,000 after purchasing an additional 23,204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $83.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.42. Meritage Homes Corporation has a twelve month low of $58.03 and a twelve month high of $85.38.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at $474,147.74. This represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, UBS Group set a $86.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Profile

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.