California Public Employees Retirement System Has $45.19 Million Stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 437,832 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 17,498 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.20% of PulteGroup worth $45,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 490,044 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,582,000 after buying an additional 22,259 shares during the last quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. grew its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. now owns 28,277 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,919,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in PulteGroup by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,855 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in PulteGroup by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 21,313 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,200,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of PulteGroup by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,722 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PHM. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PulteGroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.73.

PulteGroup Stock Up 2.1 %

PulteGroup stock opened at $113.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.42. PulteGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.70 and a fifty-two week high of $121.07.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.07. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.81% and a net margin of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. PulteGroup’s revenue was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

PulteGroup announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at PulteGroup

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.09, for a total value of $206,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,452.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PulteGroup Company 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.