Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys 88 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,054 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $438,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PHM. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 6.1% during the third quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,602 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,952,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. Tyler Stone Wealth Management lifted its holdings in PulteGroup by 115.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 11,534 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 6,184 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP bought a new stake in PulteGroup in the 3rd quarter valued at $413,000. Colonial River Investments LLC acquired a new position in PulteGroup in the 3rd quarter valued at $433,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in PulteGroup by 100.3% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,009 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 3,009 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced 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. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on PulteGroup from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research lowered PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on PulteGroup from $141.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

NYSE:PHM opened at $129.48 on Friday. PulteGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.59 and a twelve month high of $149.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63.

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. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.64% and a return on equity of 25.30%. The company had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PulteGroup news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $2,491,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,931,462.20. This represents a 29.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.83, for a total transaction of $9,573,873.81. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,043,420.09. The trade was a 44.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.