Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Boosts Stock Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 396,289 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,949 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s holdings in Lennar were worth $54,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Lennar by 69.4% during the fourth 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. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 51.0% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 234 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BTIG Research lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Fourteen 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.53.

Lennar Stock Down 4.1 %

NYSE LEN opened at $115.09 on Monday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.13. Lennar Co. has a 12 month low of $111.26 and a 12 month high of $187.61. The company has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.03, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69.

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

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.