Empirical Finance LLC Decreases Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,685 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lennar during the third quarter worth $395,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lennar during the 3rd quarter worth about $305,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $332,000. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lennar by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 9,714 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,821,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Lennar by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 106,823 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $20,027,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LEN shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Lennar from $210.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America cut their price target on Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.19.

Lennar Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LEN opened at $122.61 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $141.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.66. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $121.40 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.67.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.95%.

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.