PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) Increases Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from PulteGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

PulteGroup has raised its dividend by an average of 10.8% annually over the last three years. PulteGroup has a payout ratio of 5.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Down 0.4 %

Shares of PHM opened at $128.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.63. PulteGroup has a 1 year low of $86.59 and a 1 year high of $149.47. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.27.

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

Insider Transactions at PulteGroup

In other PulteGroup 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,043,420.09. The trade was a 44.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Folliard sold 19,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 approximately $5,931,462.20. This represents a 29.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PHM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on PulteGroup from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of PulteGroup in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Raymond James increased their price target on PulteGroup from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of PulteGroup from $148.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of PulteGroup from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.