Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Shares Acquired by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 47,503 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Lennar were worth $6,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 18.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 515,378 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Lennar by 21.4% during 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. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Lennar in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,364,000. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Lennar by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 239,058 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,600,000 after purchasing an additional 138,975 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LEN. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $141.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.07.

Lennar Stock Up 0.7 %

LEN stock opened at $105.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.73. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $98.42 and a fifty-two week high of $187.61. 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 (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 14.57%.

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.