PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) Stock Picked Up by Analysts at Melius Research

Key Points

• Melius Research initiated coverage of PulteGroup with a “hold” rating and a $132 price target, implying approximately 15.8% upside from the reported share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $138.82, despite some recent downgrades and target reductions.
• PulteGroup recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $2.48 in EPS and $3.98 billion in revenue, while institutional investors own approximately 89.9% of the company’s shares.

Research analysts at Melius Research began coverage on shares of PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set a "hold" rating and a $132.00 price target on the construction company's stock. Melius Research's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 15.83% from the company's current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on PHM. Wolfe Research set a $129.00 price target on shares of PulteGroup and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Benchmark raised shares of PulteGroup to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on PulteGroup from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 11th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of PulteGroup in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded PulteGroup from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PulteGroup has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.82.

PulteGroup Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE PHM opened at $113.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. PulteGroup has a 12 month low of $108.49 and a 12 month high of $144.49. The company has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.06.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The construction company reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.94 billion. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 11.62%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.03 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that PulteGroup will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PulteGroup

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of PulteGroup by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 151,274 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $20,756,000 after buying an additional 13,312 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of PulteGroup by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 8,732 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of PulteGroup by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 359,552 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $49,333,000 after acquiring an additional 18,524 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in PulteGroup by 3.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,174,111 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,261,092,000 after acquiring an additional 288,054 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in PulteGroup by 19.6% in the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 10,547 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.90% of the company's stock.

About PulteGroup

PulteGroup, Inc is a homebuilding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1950 by William J. Pulte, the company develops, builds and sells homes for a range of buyers, including first-time, move-up and active-adult customers.

The company operates through several well-known brands, including Pulte Homes, Centex, Del Webb and DiVosta. Its offerings include single-family homes and related residential developments, with designs and communities tailored to different lifestyles, price points and stages of homeownership.

PulteGroup serves homebuyers across numerous markets in the United States.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.