Investment House LLC Lowers Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Investment House LLC lessened its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,067 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 204 shares during the quarter. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Lennar by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,544,345 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $734,477,000 after purchasing an additional 366,983 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,681,233 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $399,611,000 after buying an additional 79,217 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Lennar by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,700,016 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $253,319,000 after acquiring an additional 72,146 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Lennar by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,542,363 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $173,099,000 after acquiring an additional 6,803 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 47.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,501,257 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $168,486,000 after purchasing an additional 484,056 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Amy Banse bought 1,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $157.00 per share, for a total transaction of $247,275.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 11,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,861,863. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lennar Price Performance

Lennar stock opened at $153.25 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 5.47. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $102.90 and a 1 year high of $172.59. The company has a market capitalization of $42.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LEN. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Lennar from $224.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $179.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.