Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 owned approximately 0.12% of Meritage Homes worth $7,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.8% during the 3rd 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. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the 4th 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. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the 4th 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. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 689,600 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $84,400,000 after buying an additional 61,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 36.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MTH shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $121,638.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $158.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.48. The stock 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.

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

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

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

About Meritage Homes

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.