Fortitude Family Office LLC Raises Stock Position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 74.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 322 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in PulteGroup by 102.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,040,828 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,297,630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571,757 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in PulteGroup by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,254,274 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,647,364,000 after buying an additional 585,735 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in PulteGroup in the third quarter worth $66,485,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 357.1% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 521,958 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $74,917,000 after buying an additional 407,764 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 1,020.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 435,925 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,568,000 after acquiring an additional 397,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PHM. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush upgraded PulteGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PulteGroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.86.

PulteGroup Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE PHM opened at $107.62 on Friday. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.24 and a 12-month high of $149.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.07 billion, a PE ratio of 7.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.67. 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 (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.27 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.49%.

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.