Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Receives $163.88 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have assigned a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $163.88.

LEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their target price on Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennar

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,116,558 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $834,115,000 after acquiring an additional 213,003 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 1.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 73,638 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,239,488 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $441,769,000 after purchasing an additional 515,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $499,991,000 after purchasing an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of LEN stock opened at $125.24 on Monday. Lennar has a 1-year low of $116.67 and a 1-year high of $187.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $129.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.49. 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 company has a market cap of $33.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share 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 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.82 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lennar will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

About Lennar

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.