Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $169.13.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Lennar from $157.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Wedbush raised Lennar from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BTIG Research cut their target price on Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lennar from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennar

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 428.9% during the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $362,685,000 after buying an additional 1,962,447 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Lennar by 15.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Lennar in the first quarter worth $61,807,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 157.5% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,889,000 after purchasing an additional 351,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $302,084,000 after buying an additional 348,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $179.05 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $161.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.64. Lennar has a fifty-two week low of $102.90 and a fifty-two week high of $182.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $49.17 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.60.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.57 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. Analysts expect that Lennar will post 14.16 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.60%.

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.