Lennar Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:LEN)

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the construction company on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd.

Lennar has raised its dividend payment by an average of 26.0% per year over the last three years. Lennar has a dividend payout ratio of 17.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lennar to earn $15.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.9%.

Lennar Stock Down 3.6 %

LEN stock traded down $3.94 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $104.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,901,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,561,292. The company has a market capitalization of $27.81 billion, a PE ratio of 7.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $118.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lennar has a 12 month low of $98.42 and a 12 month high of $187.61.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Lennar stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,727 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 377 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LEN shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Lennar from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lennar from $141.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Lennar from $141.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.07.

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.