Phocas Financial Corp. Acquires Shares of 18,937 Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 18,937 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,883,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,898 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $215,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Natixis lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 10,335.3% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 88,700 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,563,000 after acquiring an additional 87,850 shares during the period. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $385,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $177.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.27. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12-month low of $137.70 and a 12-month high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

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.