Perigon Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,181 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHM. Norges Bank bought a new position in PulteGroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $163,931,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 29.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,850,407 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $203,232,000 after buying an additional 1,101,565 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 54.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,003,713 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $310,043,000 after buying an additional 1,060,466 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 36.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,651,100 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $152,982,000 after buying an additional 972,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in PulteGroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,289,000. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PulteGroup

In other PulteGroup news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were 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 owns 15,389 shares in the company, valued at $1,586,452.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PulteGroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PHM opened at $106.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $110.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.77. PulteGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.00 and a fifty-two week high of $121.07. The firm has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.56.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.20% and a return on equity of 25.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. PulteGroup’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PHM. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.47.

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.