Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,201 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,558 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,201 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Lennar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 69.4% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 136.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 232 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LEN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $141.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.53.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE LEN opened at $115.09 on Friday. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $111.26 and a 1 year high of $187.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $30.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $126.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.48.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

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.