Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,605 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 17,758 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.11% of PulteGroup worth $31,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 67.6% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 558 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in PulteGroup by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 17,788 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in PulteGroup by 46.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,683 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 1,495 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 7.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 325,858 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,877,000 after buying an additional 22,936 shares during the period. Finally, NatWest Group plc increased its position in shares of PulteGroup by 6.3% during the second quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 81,571 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,860 shares during the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PHM. UBS Group upped their price target on PulteGroup from $148.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PulteGroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.50.

PulteGroup Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE PHM opened at $118.44 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $133.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.14. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.03 and a 12 month high of $149.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.62.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.27 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. 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 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.