River Street Advisors LLC Acquires 788 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. $PHM

River Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 10.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,686 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PHM. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in PulteGroup during the first quarter valued at approximately $213,092,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in PulteGroup by 2,586.8% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,166,902 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,958,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123,471 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 40.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,486,330 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $358,395,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,290 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 219.2% during the first quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,039,107 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $106,820,000 after purchasing an additional 713,534 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of PulteGroup during the first quarter valued at approximately $53,262,000. 89.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

Shares of PHM stock opened at $134.85 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $128.96 and a 200 day moving average of $111.95. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.07 and a 52 week high of $149.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The construction company reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 15.50%.The company had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is 6.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PHM. UBS Group increased their price objective on PulteGroup from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised PulteGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on PulteGroup from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on PulteGroup from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on PulteGroup from $132.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.31.

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.