Madison Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 2,140 PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,140 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of PulteGroup by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 322 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of PulteGroup by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 444 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of PulteGroup by 642.2% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 475 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PHM has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PulteGroup from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on PulteGroup from $125.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on PulteGroup from $140.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on PulteGroup from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total transaction of $372,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,980.80. This represents a 23.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Brian P. Anderson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.45, for a total value of $266,125.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,617 shares in the company, valued at $6,026,879.65. The trade was a 4.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,191 shares of company stock valued at $2,256,367 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

PulteGroup Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of PulteGroup stock opened at $103.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $20.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.21. PulteGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.35 and a fifty-two week high of $149.47.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.22. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 24.43% and a net margin of 17.18%. On average, equities analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.98%.

PulteGroup declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to purchase up to 6.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.