PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) Price Target Increased to $131.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) had its target price lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $126.00 to $131.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

PHM has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group downgraded PulteGroup from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com downgraded PulteGroup from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on PulteGroup from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zelman & Associates raised PulteGroup from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $111.73.

PulteGroup Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of PHM opened at $113.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.85. PulteGroup has a one year low of $64.70 and a one year high of $121.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $111.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.59.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.81% and a net margin of 16.63%. The firm had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that PulteGroup will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

Insider Activity at PulteGroup

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of PulteGroup stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total value of $206,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PulteGroup

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PHM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,960,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,003,713 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $310,043,000 after buying an additional 1,060,466 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 63.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,748,119 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $129,354,000 after acquiring an additional 679,582 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of PulteGroup during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,762,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,892,229 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $195,316,000 after acquiring an additional 523,623 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

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.