iA Global Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 107,530 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,650,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter worth about $1,880,000. Bayhunt Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth about $7,922,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,980,000 after acquiring an additional 609,866 shares in the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 234.7% during the 4th quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,090 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,177,000 after acquiring an additional 23,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 581,200 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $38,243,000 after purchasing an additional 63,770 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $81.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.48. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52 week low of $58.03 and a 52 week high of $85.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for 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%. Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MTH. Zacks Research lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.89.

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.