Insider Selling: Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) CAO Sells 676 Shares of Stock

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. This trade represents a 10.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Alison Sasser also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 12th, Alison Sasser sold 260 shares of Meritage Homes stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $19,055.40.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of MTH opened at $74.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company’s fifty day moving average is $80.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.15. Meritage Homes Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.05 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 11.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on 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. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,074,741 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $626,777,000 after purchasing an additional 26,889 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $363,714,000 after buying an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $101,695,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 61.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 571,120 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $87,850,000 after buying an additional 217,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,910,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

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.