Citadel Advisors Boosts Stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by 72%

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Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC has increased its stake in Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) to 5.7%, according to an SEC form 13G Filing. The financial company now owns 2,041,896 shares of common stock in the Arizona based real estate investment company. Citadel Advisors held 1,186,872 shares prior to this filing, which represents a more than 72% increase in its initial stake.

Citadel Advisors Boosts Stake in Meritage Homes Corporation by 72%

Citadel now holds a shared voting and dispositive power equivalent to 2,041,896 shares, but there is no sole voting power for Ken Griffin, or any of his other investment arms. Griffin’s new holding was acquired via four investment arms of his holding company, including Citadel Advisors LLC, Citadel Holdings II LP, Citadel Investment Group II, LLC, and Ken Griffin himself.

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) has 35.59 million shares of common stock outstanding, as of December 31, 2011, with 33.11 million floated. It has a market cap of $1.31 billion, with an enterprise value of $1.72 billion. The company has a trailing twelve-month loss of 0.16%, while its operating margin is pegged at 2.89%.

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) faces competition from D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI), based in Texas, with a market cap of $6.8 billion, KB Home (NYSE:KBH) based in California, with a market cap $1.26 billion, and Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) based in Miami, Florida, with a market cap of $7.23 billion.

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) holds the highest Price to Earnings Growth (PEG) ratio at 11.71x expected within the next five years, while the closest competitor, Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) comes at only 2.15x. The industry average is estimated at 1.57x.

At the time of this writing, Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) stock was trading at $36.71 per share, up $0.19, or a 0.52% increase from yesterday’s close.

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