Hilltop Partners LLC Has $769,000 Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Hilltop Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,639 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Hilltop Partners LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $769,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Lennar by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,106,798,000 after buying an additional 73,638 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Lennar by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $446,110,000 after acquiring an additional 589,553 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lennar by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $499,991,000 after purchasing an additional 89,896 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Lennar by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $133,303,000 after purchasing an additional 17,834 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $152.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wolfe Research lowered Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.88.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE:LEN opened at $120.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $117.90 and a 1 year high of $193.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $131.07 and a 200-day moving average of $159.81.

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). Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 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.