PulteGroup, Inc. $PHM Shares Bought by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 10.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 134,341 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,003 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $14,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the first quarter valued at $54,000. REAP Financial Group LLC raised its position in PulteGroup by 188.1% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 533 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in PulteGroup by 43.8% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 571 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in PulteGroup by 46.2% in the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 760 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded PulteGroup from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on PulteGroup from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on PulteGroup from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PulteGroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.46.

PulteGroup Trading Down 5.0%

PHM opened at $121.27 on Friday. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.07 and a 12 month high of $149.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $130.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.83.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The construction company reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 15.50%.The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. PulteGroup’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is presently 6.58%.

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.