Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Trims Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,306 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,691 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $3,537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 3.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $510,374,000 after purchasing an additional 151,946 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $135,797,000 after purchasing an additional 143,440 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 36.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 449,233 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $54,982,000 after purchasing an additional 118,818 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 101.2% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 124,404 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $15,216,000 after acquiring an additional 62,569 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 340,662 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,694,000 after acquiring an additional 62,549 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $154.69 on Thursday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $179.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50-day moving average is $159.01 and its 200 day moving average is $152.49. The company has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MTH. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Wedbush lowered Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.67.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total value of $54,176.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total value of $54,176.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $121,638.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares in the company, valued at $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.