Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd Cuts Stake in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 31.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 593 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 267 shares during the quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $40,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,439 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 136.0% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,901 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 2,248 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 100.7% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,325 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after buying an additional 15,218 shares in the last quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 182.0% during the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 1,255 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 151.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,202 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $440,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MTH. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their target price for the company from $100.00 to $82.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.86.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $556,069.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 221,320 shares in the company, valued at $17,707,813.20. This trade represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of MTH opened at $71.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.50 and a 200 day moving average of $70.36. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52-week low of $59.27 and a 52-week high of $98.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 10.27%.Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.47%.

Meritage Homes 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.