Cannell & Co. Decreases Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Cannell & Co. reduced its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 206,023 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 19,960 shares during the period. Cannell & Co. owned 0.07% of Lennar worth $30,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Lennar by 6,297.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 662,277 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,706,000 after purchasing an additional 651,924 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,501,257 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $168,486,000 after purchasing an additional 484,056 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 5.9% in the third 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 during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 828.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 308,733 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $34,649,000 after purchasing an additional 275,497 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 97.4% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 354,711 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,866,000 after purchasing an additional 174,981 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In related news, Director Amy Banse acquired 1,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $157.00 per share, for a total transaction of $247,275.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,863. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEN has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.88.

Lennar Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:LEN traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $151.50. The company had a trading volume of 472,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,073,331. Lennar Co. has a 1-year low of $102.90 and a 1-year high of $172.59. The stock has a market cap of $42.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $159.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $7.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.39 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 14.02%.

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.