Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $171.50.

LEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $210.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Lennar by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,722 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,457,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Lennar in the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lennar by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 293,924 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,050,000 after purchasing an additional 32,376 shares in the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 75,838 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $11,366,000 after buying an additional 4,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.7% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $843,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:LEN opened at $141.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $152.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.32. Lennar has a 52-week low of $128.41 and a 52-week high of $193.80. 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 Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.82 earnings per share. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Lennar will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.