Bank of America Cuts Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $140.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price decreased by Bank of America from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Lennar from $210.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.38.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEN opened at $132.11 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.92. Lennar has a 52 week low of $128.41 and a 52 week high of $193.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $35.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.66.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.82 earnings per share. Lennar’s revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Lennar will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Lennar by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,106,798,000 after purchasing an additional 73,638 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Lennar by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after purchasing an additional 589,553 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lennar by 3.5% in 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 buying an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Lennar by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in Lennar by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $133,303,000 after buying an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.