Quest Partners LLC Makes New $663,000 Investment in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,806 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 628 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $178.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $174.52 on Thursday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $189.96. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50 day moving average is $167.28 and its 200-day moving average is $161.07.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 17.63%. Equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 20.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

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.