Scotia Capital Inc. Acquires 714 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,093 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 714 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $3,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Polianta Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after acquiring an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after acquiring an additional 589,553 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in shares of Lennar by 51.8% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 26,382 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,597,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lennar by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 43,049 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,071,000 after purchasing an additional 3,712 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on LEN. StockNews.com cut shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Lennar from $141.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.07.

Lennar Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of LEN stock opened at $105.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lennar Co. has a 12 month low of $98.42 and a 12 month high of $187.61. The stock has a market cap of $27.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.99.

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

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.57%.

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.