Legal & General Group Plc Acquires Shares of 158,984 Meritage Homes Corporation $MTH

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 158,984 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,331,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.24% of Meritage Homes at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MTH. Essential Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 163.8% during the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 401 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 265.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 402 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 194.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 43.9% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 774 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on MTH shares. Zelman & Associates lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $93.00 price objective (up from $82.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $71.07 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 1.36. Meritage Homes Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $85.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.31.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 7.13% and a net margin of 6.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Corporation will post 5.04 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

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.