PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,463 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,122 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $3,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in PulteGroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 335.6% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 3,463.6% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 392 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 91.5% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 427 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PulteGroup during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHM has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zelman & Associates raised shares of PulteGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered shares of PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $93.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PulteGroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.73.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PHM stock opened at $112.26 on Thursday. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.41 and a 1 year high of $121.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.63% and a return on equity of 25.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total value of $206,180.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 15,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,452.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate 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.