Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $180.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on LEN. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their price target on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.56.

Lennar Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:LEN traded up $1.17 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $172.58. 1,220,560 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,993,768. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 4.90. The company has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62. Lennar has a 52-week low of $118.92 and a 52-week high of $193.80. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.26.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The company had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Lennar will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Lennar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $349,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at $702,000. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in Lennar by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,432 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 56.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,965 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 14,146 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Company 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.