Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 1,160 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 6.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,524 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in PulteGroup were worth $2,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PHM. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in PulteGroup in the 2nd quarter valued at $629,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in PulteGroup by 128.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 94,588 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $11,409,000 after buying an additional 53,175 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 3.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 331,553 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,993,000 after buying an additional 12,164 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 25.1% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 34,127 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,757,000 after buying an additional 6,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in PulteGroup by 7.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 203,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $22,350,000 after acquiring an additional 14,213 shares during the period. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PHM. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $148.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on PulteGroup from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of PulteGroup stock opened at $135.63 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $136.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 12-month low of $86.59 and a 12-month high of $149.47. The company has a market cap of $27.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.63.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.27 billion. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.64% and a return on equity of 25.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.90%.

PulteGroup Company Profile

PulteGroup, Inc, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the homebuilding business in the United States. It acquires and develops land primarily for residential purposes; and constructs housing on such land. The company also offers various home designs, including single-family detached, townhomes, condominiums, and duplexes under the Centex, Pulte Homes, Del Webb, DiVosta Homes, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, and American West brand names.