Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Stock Price

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $135.00 to $121.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on LEN. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.50.

Lennar Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of LEN opened at $131.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 4.71. Lennar has a 52-week low of $128.41 and a 52-week high of $193.80. The firm has a market cap of $35.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $146.21 and its 200-day moving average is $166.26.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 12.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.95%.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Lennar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Lennar by 22.0% during 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. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in Lennar by 258.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,774,000 after buying an additional 356,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 23,048.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,209,000 after acquiring an additional 149,812 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

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.