PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $104.87.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. UBS Group lowered PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $93.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on PulteGroup from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st.

PulteGroup Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:PHM opened at $116.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. PulteGroup has a twelve month low of $55.26 and a twelve month high of $117.41. The company has a market cap of $24.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $107.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.16.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.20% and a return on equity of 25.97%. The company’s revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that PulteGroup will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.81%.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to buy up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at PulteGroup

In other PulteGroup news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total value of $206,180.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,452.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PulteGroup

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,748,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,162,667,000 after purchasing an additional 261,934 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 10.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,885,474 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,622,384,000 after buying an additional 2,030,200 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its stake in PulteGroup by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 11,008,695 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,136,318,000 after acquiring an additional 197,656 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 2.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,343,160 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $604,439,000 after acquiring an additional 228,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,726,368 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $591,076,000 after purchasing an additional 24,350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.84% of the company’s stock.

About PulteGroup

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.