Clearbridge Investments LLC Decreases Holdings in Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 168,748 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 12,964 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $11,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,980,000 after buying an additional 609,866 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,465,340 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $96,419,000 after buying an additional 12,386 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 527,265 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after buying an additional 391,297 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,053,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MTH. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. UBS Group set a $86.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $70.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.89. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.03 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.39.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.12). Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 6.86%.The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at $474,147.74. This represents a 14.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Meritage Homes

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.