Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Cuts Position in PulteGroup, Inc. $PHM

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lessened its position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 44.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 544,415 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 440,758 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.28% of PulteGroup worth $57,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHM. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of PulteGroup by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,290,631 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,296,170,000 after purchasing an additional 95,058 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PulteGroup in the second quarter worth approximately $404,339,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 40.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,486,330 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $358,395,000 after buying an additional 1,001,290 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in PulteGroup by 11.8% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,570,022 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $264,216,000 after acquiring an additional 271,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of PulteGroup during the first quarter worth approximately $213,092,000. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

PulteGroup Stock Down 1.9%

NYSE PHM opened at $127.83 on Friday. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.07 and a 1 year high of $142.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.84, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $123.43 and its 200 day moving average is $118.79.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The construction company reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.10. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 14.93%.The business had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.35 EPS. PulteGroup’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. This is a positive change from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. PulteGroup’s payout ratio is 6.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $145.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $154.00 to $134.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of PulteGroup from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Monday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.67.

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.