Investment House LLC Trims Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Investment House LLC lowered its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,067 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 204 shares during the period. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 6,297.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 662,277 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,706,000 after acquiring an additional 651,924 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 47.6% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,501,257 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $168,486,000 after buying an additional 484,056 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,544,345 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $734,477,000 after buying an additional 366,983 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Lennar by 828.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 308,733 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $34,649,000 after acquiring an additional 275,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Lennar by 97.4% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 354,711 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $52,866,000 after acquiring an additional 174,981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE:LEN opened at $153.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $42.66 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.53. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $102.90 and a fifty-two week high of $172.59. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $7.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.39 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 14.02%.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Amy Banse bought 1,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $157.00 per share, with a total value of $247,275.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,859 shares in the company, valued at $1,861,863. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LEN shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $224.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on Lennar from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Lennar from $179.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.88.

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.