Hancock Whitney Corp Buys Shares of 1,760 PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Hancock Whitney Corp purchased a new stake in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,760 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in PulteGroup during the first quarter valued at $68,985,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of PulteGroup during the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,485,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 1,020.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 435,925 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,568,000 after acquiring an additional 397,003 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 19.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in PulteGroup by 8.6% during the 2nd 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 period. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PHM. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

PulteGroup Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE PHM opened at $136.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 12-month low of $86.59 and a 12-month high of $149.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $136.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.27 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. This is a positive change from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is presently 6.49%.

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.