Wealth Alliance Takes Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Wealth Alliance bought a new position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,369 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LEN. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Lennar by 551.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,824,684 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $191,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544,432 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Lennar by 6,297.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 662,277 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,706,000 after acquiring an additional 651,924 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Lennar by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,501,257 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $168,486,000 after acquiring an additional 484,056 shares during the period. Duquesne Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Lennar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,991,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Lennar by 236.0% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 229,341 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $24,106,000 after acquiring an additional 397,951 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Amy Banse bought 1,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $157.00 per share, with a total value of $247,275.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,861,863. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $179.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.88.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $150.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $159.57 and a 200 day moving average of $142.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 5.47. Lennar Co. has a one year low of $102.90 and a one year high of $172.59.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $7.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.39 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lennar’s payout ratio is 14.02%.

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.