Ascent Group LLC Has $720,000 Position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 19.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,013 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,040,828 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,297,630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571,757 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of PulteGroup during the 3rd quarter worth $66,485,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 357.1% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 521,958 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $74,917,000 after buying an additional 407,764 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in PulteGroup by 1,020.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 435,925 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $62,568,000 after acquiring an additional 397,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in PulteGroup by 19.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,529,698 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $168,254,000 after acquiring an additional 250,937 shares in the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PHM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $148.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PulteGroup from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PHM opened at $133.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. PulteGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.81 and a twelve month high of $149.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.77.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.25. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The firm had revenue of $4.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.90%.

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.