Legato Capital Management LLC Takes $881,000 Position in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 12,160 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $881,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,299,000 after purchasing an additional 527,265 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,148,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 58.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $75,051,000 after buying an additional 391,297 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Meritage Homes by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,000,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $66,970,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dendur Capital LP lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 55.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dendur Capital LP now owns 876,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $58,666,000 after acquiring an additional 312,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MTH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meritage Homes from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Evercore set a $77.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.63.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total transaction of $2,510,401.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 260,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,917,154.61. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total transaction of $272,939.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,844.40. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,622 shares of company stock worth $3,640,273. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of MTH stock opened at $72.12 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.26 and a 200-day moving average of $72.48. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12-month low of $59.27 and a 12-month high of $84.74.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 7.73%.The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.72 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 27.22%.

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.