2,345 Shares in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Acquired by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,345 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in shares of PulteGroup in the 2nd quarter valued at $629,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 128.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 94,588 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $11,409,000 after acquiring an additional 53,175 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 10,625.8% during the 3rd quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 9,546 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 9,457 shares in the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department increased its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 39,589 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,682,000 after acquiring an additional 11,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 331,553 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $39,993,000 after acquiring an additional 12,164 shares in the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research cut shares of PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on PulteGroup from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.00.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

PHM opened at $135.63 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $27.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.63. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.59 and a 1 year high of $149.47.

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

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is a boost from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.90%.

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.