14,897 Shares in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH Acquired by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 14,897 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,559 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 808 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,916 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,147.74. This represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group set a $86.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Meritage Homes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.22.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $75.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $70.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.94. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.03 and a 12 month high of $85.38. The company has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. Analysts predict that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single?family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high?performance features aimed at reducing long?term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.