PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) Reaches New 52-Week High at $138.75

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $138.75 and last traded at $138.65, with a volume of 43175 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $135.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PHM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $129.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on PulteGroup from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.14.

PulteGroup Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $28.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.62.

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

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insider Transactions at PulteGroup

In related news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of PulteGroup 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 45,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,931,462.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other PulteGroup news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total transaction of $2,491,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,931,462.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at $12,043,420.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,814,039 over the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PulteGroup

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PulteGroup during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 54.7% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 232 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of PulteGroup during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in PulteGroup in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. acquired a new stake in PulteGroup in the second quarter worth about $33,000. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.