Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Boosts Stake in Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 26.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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 owned approximately 1.34% of Meritage Homes worth $99,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth approximately $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

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

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

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.58%.

Meritage Homes Company 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.