PulteGroup’s (PHM) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $135.00 target price on the construction company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $120.00.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of PulteGroup from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $111.73.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

NYSE PHM opened at $113.80 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $111.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.59. PulteGroup has a 1 year low of $64.70 and a 1 year high of $121.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.56.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.63% and a return on equity of 25.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PulteGroup will post 12.66 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PulteGroup news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total transaction of $206,180.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 15,389 shares in the company, valued at $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PulteGroup

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Putnam Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 11,008,695 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,136,318,000 after purchasing an additional 197,656 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its position in PulteGroup by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,726,368 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $591,076,000 after buying an additional 24,350 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in PulteGroup by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,484,469 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $406,125,000 after buying an additional 95,945 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in PulteGroup by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,432,965 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $328,261,000 after buying an additional 522,032 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PulteGroup during the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,960,000. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.