PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) PT Raised to $131.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from $126.00 to $131.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the construction company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 16.84% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on PHM. Barclays lifted their price objective on PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group downgraded PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $93.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.73.

PulteGroup Price Performance

Shares of PulteGroup stock traded down $0.64 on Wednesday, hitting $112.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,357,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,818,218. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 9.54, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.56. PulteGroup has a 52 week low of $64.41 and a 52 week high of $121.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.96.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.20% and a return on equity of 25.97%. The company had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that PulteGroup will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PulteGroup

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC grew its holdings in PulteGroup by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,449 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 2,609 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PulteGroup by 25.6% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,237 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,869,000 after purchasing an additional 5,140 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in PulteGroup by 11.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,619 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 25.0% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 859 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC acquired a new stake in PulteGroup in the third quarter valued at $232,000. 89.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.