South Street Advisors LLC Invests $244,000 in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

South Street Advisors LLC bought a new position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,700 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its position in PulteGroup by 0.3% during the third quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,593,179 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $802,789,000 after purchasing an additional 16,871 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in PulteGroup by 8.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,968,788 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $326,864,000 after purchasing an additional 235,826 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in PulteGroup by 19.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,529,698 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $168,254,000 after purchasing an additional 250,937 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in PulteGroup by 18.4% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,085,939 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 168,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in PulteGroup by 6.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,025,276 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $147,158,000 after purchasing an additional 60,854 shares in the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on PHM. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $141.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

Shares of PulteGroup stock traded down $0.55 on Friday, reaching $128.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,509,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,839,799. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $137.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. PulteGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $86.59 and a fifty-two week high of $149.47. The stock has a market cap of $26.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.25. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.64% and a return on equity of 25.30%. The business had revenue of $4.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.90 earnings per share. PulteGroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.90%.

Insider Activity at PulteGroup

In other PulteGroup news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $2,491,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 45,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,931,462.20. The trade was a 29.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.83, for a total transaction of $9,573,873.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at $12,043,420.09. This trade represents a 44.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.