Flputnam Investment Management Co. Grows Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 74.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,675 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,794 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $3,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LEN. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Lennar by 1.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,106,798,000 after acquiring an additional 73,638 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after purchasing an additional 589,553 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,991,000 after purchasing an additional 89,896 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Lennar by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in Lennar by 2.6% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $133,303,000 after buying an additional 17,834 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LEN shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Lennar from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.88.

Lennar Trading Down 0.6 %

Lennar stock opened at $119.63 on Friday. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $117.90 and a 1 year high of $193.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $130.70 and its 200-day moving average is $159.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 4.71. The company has a market cap of $31.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.34, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.67.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business’s revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.95%.

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.