Meridian Wealth Management LLC Invests $1.88 Million in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 13,129 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,884,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PHM. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of PulteGroup during the first quarter worth $68,985,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 1,020.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 435,925 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $62,568,000 after acquiring an additional 397,003 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 19.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,529,698 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $168,254,000 after acquiring an additional 250,937 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 8.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,968,788 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $326,864,000 after acquiring an additional 235,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 35.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 861,487 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $123,649,000 after acquiring an additional 223,841 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PHM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PHM opened at $129.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $136.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.77. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.59 and a 52 week high of $149.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a PE ratio of 9.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.25. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The firm had revenue of $4.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.90%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $2,491,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,931,462.20. This trade represents a 29.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.83% 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.