PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,250,000 shares, a decline of 18.4% from the October 15th total of 6,430,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PulteGroup news, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at $12,043,420.09. This represents a 44.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the director now owns 45,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,931,462.20. This represents a 29.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in PulteGroup by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,040,828 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,297,630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571,757 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its position in PulteGroup by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 5,593,179 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $802,789,000 after purchasing an additional 16,871 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in PulteGroup by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,968,788 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $326,864,000 after purchasing an additional 235,826 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in PulteGroup by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,864,040 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $267,546,000 after purchasing an additional 135,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in PulteGroup by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,529,698 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $168,254,000 after purchasing an additional 250,937 shares during the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of PulteGroup from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PHM stock traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $128.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,499,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,839,799. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $137.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.17. PulteGroup has a 12-month low of $86.59 and a 12-month high of $149.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.43 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.25. PulteGroup had a net margin of 16.64% and a return on equity of 25.30%. The firm had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.90 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that PulteGroup will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from PulteGroup's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. PulteGroup's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.90%.

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.

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