T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 38.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 524,318 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 324,790 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $80,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 545.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 235.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MTH. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $48,692.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. This trade represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $67.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.16. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $59.27 and a 52-week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. Analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

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.