HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Sells 829 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 17.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,050 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 829 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHM. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,937,866 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,300,034,000 after buying an additional 683,592 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its stake in PulteGroup by 193.7% during the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 16,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 10,632 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in PulteGroup by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,869 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of PulteGroup by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 246,719 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $26,868,000 after purchasing an additional 46,719 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 100.6% in the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 5,612 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PHM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on PulteGroup from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on PulteGroup from $162.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $125.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PulteGroup news, Director Brian P. Anderson sold 2,500 shares of PulteGroup stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.45, for a total transaction of $266,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 56,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,026,879.65. The trade was a 4.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 3,500 shares of PulteGroup stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total value of $372,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,980.80. The trade was a 23.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,191 shares of company stock valued at $2,256,367 over the last three months. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

PulteGroup stock opened at $104.32 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $21.12 billion, a PE ratio of 7.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.71. PulteGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.58 and a twelve month high of $149.47.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.22. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 24.43% and a net margin of 17.18%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.98%.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to purchase up to 6.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.