Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Short Interest Up 14.3% in January

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,110,000 shares, an increase of 14.3% from the January 15th total of 2,720,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 938,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on 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. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded up $0.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.75. The company had a trading volume of 632,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 947,194. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.88. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $72.19 and a 12 month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 11.47%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Company 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.