Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $165.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $180.00 to $165.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on LEN. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Barclays downgraded shares of Lennar from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $184.00.

Lennar Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $138.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $37.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $169.78 and its 200 day moving average is $169.58. Lennar has a 52 week low of $135.21 and a 52 week high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 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 the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business’s revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lennar will post 14.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in Lennar during the second quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Lennar by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,650 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lennar by 5.7% during the second quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Lennar in the second quarter worth about $405,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lennar in the second quarter worth about $181,000. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.