Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 626.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,654 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,950 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $3,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Lennar by 15.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lennar by 3.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,991,000 after acquiring an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Lennar by 428.9% in the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $362,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,447 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Lennar by 20.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $302,084,000 after purchasing an additional 348,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 14.6% in the second quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 655,368 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,220,000 after purchasing an additional 83,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Performance

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $167.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.12, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.90 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Lennar Co. has a 12 month low of $125.17 and a 12 month high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lennar from $154.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. 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 research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.56.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

About Lennar

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.