Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 1,691 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,306 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,691 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Meritage Homes worth $3,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 6.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,979 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 2,438 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the third quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 4,308 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush cut Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $154.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Meritage Homes Co. has a one year low of $109.23 and a one year high of $179.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.77. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $159.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.49.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $121,638.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.