Cannell & Spears LLC Increases Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Cannell & Spears LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 514,970 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,311 shares during the quarter. Lennar makes up approximately 1.4% of Cannell & Spears LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cannell & Spears LLC owned 0.19% of Lennar worth $70,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Lennar by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position 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 worth $441,769,000 after acquiring an additional 515,378 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 201,009 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,412,000 after acquiring an additional 4,795 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 240,619 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $32,813,000 after purchasing an additional 55,505 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Lennar by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 154,078 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $20,985,000 after purchasing an additional 23,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LEN. UBS Group decreased their price target on Lennar from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $141.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Lennar from $121.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.07.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE LEN opened at $113.83 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.94. Lennar Co. has a 12-month low of $111.26 and a 12-month high of $187.61. The firm has a market cap of $30.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.94, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.57 EPS. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.