Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Takes $773,000 Position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,385 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $773,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PHM. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in PulteGroup by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,683 shares of the construction company's stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 62,706 shares of the construction company's stock worth $6,473,000 after acquiring an additional 10,014 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 36,425 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,760,000 after acquiring an additional 15,084 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PulteGroup in the fourth quarter worth about $315,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 96,709 shares of the construction company's stock worth $9,982,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PHM shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wolfe Research lowered PulteGroup from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on PulteGroup from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on PulteGroup from $129.00 to $117.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $135.93.

Insider Transactions at PulteGroup

In other news, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.83, for a total value of $9,573,873.81. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,043,420.09. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other PulteGroup news, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.83, for a total transaction of $9,573,873.81. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at $12,043,420.09. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $2,491,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 45,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,931,462.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 119,000 shares of company stock worth $15,814,039. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PulteGroup Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:PHM traded down $3.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $139.44. The company had a trading volume of 1,457,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,851,521. The stock has a market cap of $28.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.62. PulteGroup, Inc. has a one year low of $68.80 and a one year high of $145.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.56. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.67% and a net margin of 16.75%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. PulteGroup's payout ratio is 6.41%.

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.