Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 13.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,029 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 362 shares during the quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 70.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 49.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 73,469 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $15,066,000 after purchasing an additional 24,362 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meritage Homes by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 489,035 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $100,286,000 after purchasing an additional 5,732 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,338,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,539,000 after buying an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $184.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meritage Homes Co. has a 12 month low of $137.70 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82. The company’s 50 day moving average is $192.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.28.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio 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.