Freedom Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 39.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,066 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 3,142 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $2,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners grew its position in Lennar by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,089,000 after purchasing an additional 4,207 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Lennar by 23,048.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,209,000 after buying an additional 149,812 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. purchased a new position in Lennar in the second quarter valued at about $477,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lennar by 3.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 89,896 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 91.1% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 14,318 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,456,000 after purchasing an additional 6,824 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennar

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities increased their target price on Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.56.

Lennar Trading Down 3.0 %

LEN stock opened at $173.35 on Wednesday. Lennar Co. has a one year low of $125.17 and a one year high of $193.80. The company has a market capitalization of $47.02 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.62. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $177.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 4.90.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.25%.

Lennar 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.