Westerkirk Capital Inc. Invests $1.71 Million in PulteGroup, Inc. $PHM

Westerkirk Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 16,200 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,708,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHM. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in PulteGroup by 0.8% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,290,631 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,296,170,000 after purchasing an additional 95,058 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the second quarter worth about $404,339,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 40.3% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,486,330 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $358,395,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001,290 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,570,022 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $264,216,000 after acquiring an additional 271,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup during the 1st quarter valued at about $213,092,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on PHM shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $132.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $154.00 to $134.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of PulteGroup in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.67.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

NYSE:PHM opened at $127.18 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.49. The stock has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.25. PulteGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.07 and a twelve month high of $142.11.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The construction company reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.31 billion. PulteGroup had a net margin of 14.93% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. This is a positive change from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is presently 8.01%.

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.