Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Reduces Stock Holdings in PulteGroup, Inc. $PHM

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lowered its stake in PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,420 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,458 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $1,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cooper Financial Group increased its position in shares of PulteGroup by 1.4% during the second quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 6,697 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of PulteGroup by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,062 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of PulteGroup by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,630 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 909 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of PulteGroup by 1.9% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,644 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 89.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PulteGroup Price Performance

Shares of PHM opened at $137.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $129.39 and a 200 day moving average of $112.23. PulteGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.07 and a twelve month high of $149.47.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The construction company reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 15.50%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PulteGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. PulteGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PHM. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PulteGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Zacks Research raised PulteGroup from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on PulteGroup from $132.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PulteGroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.31.

PulteGroup 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.