PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) PT Raised to $113.00

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) had its target price boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $106.00 to $113.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the construction company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 1.47% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lifted their target price on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Zelman & Associates raised PulteGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their price target on PulteGroup from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group cut PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $93.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on PulteGroup from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.73.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of PHM stock opened at $111.36 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $111.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.13. PulteGroup has a twelve month low of $64.41 and a twelve month high of $121.07. The company has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that PulteGroup will post 11.96 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of PulteGroup 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PulteGroup

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PHM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the fourth quarter worth $381,960,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,003,713 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $310,043,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060,466 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 63.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the third quarter worth $47,762,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 38.3% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.