J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Acquires 204 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,040 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in PulteGroup by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,726,368 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $591,076,000 after acquiring an additional 24,350 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in PulteGroup by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,484,469 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $406,125,000 after acquiring an additional 95,945 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in PulteGroup by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,432,965 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $328,261,000 after acquiring an additional 522,032 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,115,877 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $230,731,000 after purchasing an additional 61,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,003,713 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $310,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,466 shares in the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PulteGroup

In other PulteGroup news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,452.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PHM shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded PulteGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $93.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.73.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PHM stock opened at $112.26 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $110.90 and a 200 day moving average of $99.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.86. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.41 and a 1-year high of $121.07.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.21 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.81% and a net margin of 16.63%. PulteGroup’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current year.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

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.