Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Shares Sold by Allianz Asset Management GmbH

Allianz Asset Management GmbH cut its stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 210,146 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 34,760 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $32,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC grew 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 valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,719 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 986 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $73.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.04. Meritage Homes Co. has a 1-year low of $71.05 and a 1-year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. This trade represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,531 shares of company stock valued at $111,355. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MTH. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

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.