Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Raises Stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,612 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in PulteGroup by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 753,768 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $78,030,000 after acquiring an additional 28,833 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in PulteGroup by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,341 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,951,000 after acquiring an additional 5,257 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in PulteGroup by 65.0% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 224,978 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,660,000 after acquiring an additional 88,638 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in PulteGroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,111,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in PulteGroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,342,000. 89.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of PulteGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.73.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:PHM traded down $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $112.26. 2,044,803 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,827,987. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.56. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.41 and a 52-week high of $121.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $110.73 and its 200-day moving average is $98.96.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.21 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.97% and a net margin of 16.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.81%.

PulteGroup declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to buy up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total transaction of $206,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,389 shares in the company, valued at $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PulteGroup 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.