Signaturefd LLC Acquires 152 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,722 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PHM. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,726,368 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $591,076,000 after purchasing an additional 24,350 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,484,469 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $406,125,000 after purchasing an additional 95,945 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 13.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,432,965 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $328,261,000 after purchasing an additional 522,032 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 2.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 54.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHM has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group cut PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $93.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on PulteGroup from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Raymond James upped their target price on PulteGroup from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays upped their target price on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.47.

Insider Transactions at PulteGroup

In other 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PulteGroup Price Performance

Shares of PHM opened at $112.76 on Wednesday. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.35 and a 52-week high of $121.07. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $110.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.96. The firm has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.60, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 return on equity of 25.97% and a net margin of 16.20%. The company 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 earned $3.63 earnings per share. PulteGroup’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is 6.81%.

PulteGroup announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.