Empirical Finance LLC Buys 108 Shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,182 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $2,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the third quarter worth approximately $266,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 30,909 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,436,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares in the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners bought a new position in PulteGroup in the 3rd quarter worth $227,000. Black Swift Group LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the 3rd quarter worth $1,435,000. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in PulteGroup by 23.1% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 12,280 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,763,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. 89.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PulteGroup

In other PulteGroup news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $2,491,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 45,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,931,462.20. This trade represents a 29.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,043,420.09. This represents a 44.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on PulteGroup from $131.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of PulteGroup from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.00.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PHM stock opened at $128.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.43 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.59 and a 1 year high of $149.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is currently 5.90%.

PulteGroup 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.