Earnest Partners LLC Sells 77,577 Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Earnest Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 5.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,468,385 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 77,577 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $106,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MTH. Archer Investment Corp grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,749 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.6% in the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,806 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 21,255 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 7,659 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 10,928 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $834,352.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,961 shares in the company, valued at $9,540,772.35. This trade represents a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $272,939.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 44,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,844.40. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 47,622 shares of company stock worth $3,640,273 over the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.33.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.4%

Meritage Homes stock opened at $63.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 1-year low of $59.27 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.94. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.46.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 7.73% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.72 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 27.22%.

Meritage Homes Company 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.