FY2018 EPS Estimates for PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Boosted by Wedbush

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) – Equities researchers at Wedbush raised their FY2018 EPS estimates for shares of PulteGroup in a note issued to investors on Tuesday. Wedbush analyst J. Mccanless now forecasts that the construction company will earn $2.60 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.29. Wedbush currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock.

PHM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays PLC lowered shares of PulteGroup from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Mizuho lowered shares of PulteGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, July 10th. BidaskClub lowered shares of PulteGroup from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of PulteGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 4th. Finally, Bank of America Corporation restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price (up previously from $29.00) on shares of PulteGroup in a research report on Tuesday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.08.

PulteGroup (PHM) traded up 0.58% during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $24.43. 2,295,803 shares of the company traded hands. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $24.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.80. The company has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49 and a beta of 1.15. PulteGroup has a 12-month low of $17.69 and a 12-month high of $25.20.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The construction company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.02. PulteGroup had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PHM. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 3,521.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,891,339 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $539,092,000 after buying an additional 22,259,277 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 1.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,423,289 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $245,477,000 after buying an additional 118,739 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 0.6% in the first quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,750,265 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $135,419,000 after buying an additional 32,000 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in PulteGroup during the first quarter valued at $92,466,000. Finally, Hexavest Inc. boosted its stake in PulteGroup by 4.8% in the first quarter. Hexavest Inc. now owns 3,263,222 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $76,849,000 after buying an additional 149,914 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.85% of the company’s stock.

In other news, Director Brian P. Anderson sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.18, for a total transaction of $324,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 108,744 shares in the company, valued at $2,520,685.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.71% of the company’s stock.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 6th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

About PulteGroup

PulteGroup, Inc is a homebuilder in the United States. The Company’s segments include Homebuilding and Financial Services. Its Homebuilding operations are engaged in the acquisition and development of land primarily for residential purposes within the United States and the construction of housing on such land.