Palouse Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,315 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MTH. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 339.8% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $798,813.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $798,813.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total value of $35,340.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,408.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock traded up $0.26 on Friday, reaching $150.35. 285,324 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 403,232. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $159.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.44.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.18 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush lowered Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

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.