Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Upgraded to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) from an underperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $130.00 price target on the construction company’s stock.

LEN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BTIG Research lowered Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $210.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.50.

Lennar Trading Down 3.0 %

LEN opened at $129.58 on Friday. Lennar has a 12 month low of $129.36 and a 12 month high of $193.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $156.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.54. The firm has a market cap of $35.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 14.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennar

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LEN. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Lennar by 2.2% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,075 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in Lennar by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in Lennar by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 15,074 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Lennar by 1.0% during the third quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,667 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,437,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 5.4% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,510 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.