StockNews.com Downgrades Lennar (NYSE:LEN) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LEN. Wedbush raised Lennar from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an outperform rating and issued a $183.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Citigroup reissued a neutral rating and issued a $164.00 target price (down previously from $174.00) on shares of Lennar in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Lennar from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lennar from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $169.13.

Lennar Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE LEN opened at $169.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $46.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.82 and its 200-day moving average is $158.85. Lennar has a one year low of $102.90 and a one year high of $182.53.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.18. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.57 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.60%.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In other news, VP Mark Sustana sold 9,176 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.88, for a total transaction of $1,512,938.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 16,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,764,707.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,962,447 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Lennar by 15.1% in the 2nd 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. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in Lennar in the 1st quarter valued at $61,807,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lennar by 157.5% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,889,000 after purchasing an additional 351,698 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Lennar by 20.9% in the 2nd 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 during the period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.