LPL Financial LLC Boosts Position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 331,214 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,808 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.16% of PulteGroup worth $36,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its stake in PulteGroup by 54.7% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 232 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

PulteGroup Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of PHM stock opened at $139.54 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $125.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.51. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.80 and a 1-year high of $140.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.35 billion, a PE ratio of 11.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.67% and a net margin of 16.75%. PulteGroup’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PulteGroup news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total transaction of $2,491,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,931,462.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $2,491,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,931,462.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.83, for a total value of $9,573,873.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at $12,043,420.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 119,000 shares of company stock worth $15,814,039. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on PulteGroup from $131.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on PulteGroup from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on PulteGroup from $141.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research lowered PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Friday, August 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.14.

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.