PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) Price Target Raised to $113.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) had its price objective raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $106.00 to $113.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on PHM. Citigroup raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group downgraded PulteGroup from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $93.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $111.73.

PulteGroup Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of PulteGroup stock opened at $113.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $23.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 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 has a 52-week low of $64.70 and a 52-week high of $121.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.59.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.81% and a net margin of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that PulteGroup will post 12.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at PulteGroup

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of PulteGroup 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 sale, the vice president now owns 15,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PulteGroup

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 1.8% in 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 buying an additional 197,656 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted 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 valued at $591,076,000 after buying an additional 24,350 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $406,125,000 after buying an additional 95,945 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $328,261,000 after buying an additional 522,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PulteGroup in the 4th quarter valued at $381,960,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

PulteGroup Company Profile

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.