Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,140,000 shares, a decline of 11.8% from the July 31st total of 5,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Raymond James lowered shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wedbush raised shares of Lennar from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lennar by 484.0% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Lennar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Lennar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lennar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Lennar by 223.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 233 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE LEN traded up $1.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $182.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,458,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,085,980. The stock has a market cap of $49.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Lennar has a one year low of $102.90 and a one year high of $186.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.10.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.57 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.58% and a return on equity of 15.93%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.60%.

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.