PulteGroup Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PHM)

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 9,941 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,498% compared to the average daily volume of 622 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PHM. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $116.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group cut shares of PulteGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $93.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Brien P. O’meara sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 15,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,586,452.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PulteGroup

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHM. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in PulteGroup by 40.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 733,804 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $88,511,000 after acquiring an additional 212,837 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its position in PulteGroup by 1,129.9% during the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 2,017 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares in the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PulteGroup during the 1st quarter worth approximately $260,000. Red Door Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Finally, River Street Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 6,207 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company’s stock.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of PHM stock opened at $105.96 on Friday. PulteGroup has a fifty-two week low of $61.74 and a fifty-two week high of $121.07. The stock has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.81%.

PulteGroup announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.