Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Stock Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 5th, 2023

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,400 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $1,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,236,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 139.2% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 476 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 71.2% in the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 647 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 66.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 767 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MTH shares. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $106.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $87.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $129.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.86.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total transaction of $39,385.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.16, for a total transaction of $39,385.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Raymond Oppel sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.22, for a total value of $551,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,102,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,683 shares of company stock worth $1,290,994. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $116.66 on Wednesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $62.51 and a fifty-two week high of $119.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.58.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The construction company reported $7.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 27.92% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.25 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 12.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.04%.

Meritage Homes Profile

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Meritage Homes Corp. engages in the design and construction of single family attached and detached homes. It operates through the Homebuilding and Financial Services segments. The Homebuilding segment acquires and develops lands, constructs homes, markets and sells those homes, and provides warranty and customer services.