7,900 PulteGroup, Inc. $PHM Shares Sold by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lowered its position in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 12.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,381 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 7,900 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $6,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,174,111 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,261,092,000 after purchasing an additional 288,054 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 7.8% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,314,501 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $507,428,000 after purchasing an additional 313,581 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,146,857 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $370,008,000 after purchasing an additional 26,790 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of PulteGroup by 4.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,963,175 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $230,889,000 after purchasing an additional 80,352 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of PulteGroup by 28.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,438,508 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $169,183,000 after purchasing an additional 319,617 shares during the period. 89.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PHM shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on PulteGroup from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on PulteGroup from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $138.00 price target on PulteGroup in a report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of PulteGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $122.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.24.

PulteGroup Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE PHM opened at $124.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. PulteGroup, Inc. has a one year low of $107.15 and a one year high of $144.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $119.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.18.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $2.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.10). PulteGroup had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 11.24%. The business had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. PulteGroup’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is presently 11.11%.

About PulteGroup

PulteGroup, Inc is a major U.S. homebuilding company that designs, builds and sells homes for a range of buyers, including first-time, move-up and active-adult customers. Its operations include land acquisition and development, home construction, sales and marketing, and customer service.

The company markets homes under several well-known brands, including Pulte, Centex, Del Webb, DiVosta and American West. Through these brands, PulteGroup offers a variety of single-family home designs and communities, with products tailored to different price points, lifestyles and stages of homeownership.