Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Increases Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 26.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 102,502 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $99,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 17.9% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,136 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 97.2% during the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 10,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,821,000 after purchasing an additional 5,117 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 216.7% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 190,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,337,000 after purchasing an additional 130,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 153,897 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,003,000 after purchasing an additional 50,459 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.17.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $184.44 on Friday. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $137.70 and a twelve month high of $213.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82. The company’s 50 day moving average is $192.28 and its 200 day moving average is $184.28.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

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.