Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM)

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 9,941 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,498% compared to the typical daily volume of 622 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of PulteGroup 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,043,420.09. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of PulteGroup 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,931,462.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 89,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,043,420.09. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PulteGroup

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 463 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 54.7% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 232 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 565 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 5,002 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 2,329 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on PulteGroup from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James increased their target price on PulteGroup from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on PulteGroup from $141.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their target price on PulteGroup from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.00.

PulteGroup Stock Performance

Shares of PHM opened at $130.30 on Thursday. PulteGroup has a 12 month low of $72.45 and a 12 month high of $149.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $137.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $26.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.62.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.25. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The firm had revenue of $4.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that PulteGroup will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

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.