Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Purchases 718 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 56,033 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 718 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $8,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LEN. Coastline Trust Co grew its position in Lennar by 80.8% in the 4th quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 24,515 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,654,000 after purchasing an additional 10,957 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Lennar by 6,297.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 662,277 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,706,000 after acquiring an additional 651,924 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 88,872 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,974,000 after acquiring an additional 12,469 shares during the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,367,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in Lennar by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 1,808 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of Lennar stock traded down $1.57 on Friday, reaching $150.92. The stock had a trading volume of 933,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,109,094. The business’s 50 day moving average is $159.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.03. The company has a market cap of $42.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.53. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $102.90 and a 1 year high of $172.59. The company has a current ratio of 5.47, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $7.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.39 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 14.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Lennar news, Director Amy Banse purchased 1,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $157.00 per share, with a total value of $247,275.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,863. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $224.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Lennar from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.88.

Lennar Profile

Lennar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a homebuilder primarily under the Lennar brand in the United States. It operates through Homebuilding East, Homebuilding Central, Homebuilding Texas, Homebuilding West, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other segments. The company's homebuilding operations include the construction and sale of single-family attached and detached homes, as well as the purchase, development, and sale of residential land; and development, construction, and management of multifamily rental properties.