PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.22 Per Share

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the construction company on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. This is an increase from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

PulteGroup has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.8% annually over the last three years. PulteGroup has a payout ratio of 5.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect PulteGroup to earn $13.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.0%.

PulteGroup Stock Up 1.6 %

PHM opened at $129.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. PulteGroup has a 52 week low of $86.59 and a 52 week high of $149.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.14.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The construction company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.25. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.30% and a net margin of 16.64%. The business had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that PulteGroup will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 71,007 shares of PulteGroup stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.83, for a total transaction of $9,573,873.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,043,420.09. This trade represents a 44.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of PulteGroup stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total transaction of $2,491,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,931,462.20. This trade represents a 29.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PHM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on PulteGroup from $198.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. BTIG Research raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on PulteGroup from $131.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.00.

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.