Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Plans $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the construction company on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd.

Lennar has increased its dividend payment by an average of 26.0% annually over the last three years. Lennar has a dividend payout ratio of 17.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lennar to earn $15.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.9%.

Lennar Stock Down 3.6 %

LEN traded down $3.94 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $104.72. 1,901,062 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,561,292. Lennar has a fifty-two week low of $98.42 and a fifty-two week high of $187.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $27.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.30, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Lennar will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Lennar stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,727 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEN. BTIG Research lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $131.00 target price (down previously from $159.00) on shares of Lennar in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Lennar from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.07.

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.