Argent Trust Co Acquires 120 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Argent Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,537 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Lennar were worth $680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Lennar by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,760,729 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $303,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60,713 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in Lennar by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 648,867 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $111,592,000 after buying an additional 23,483 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lennar by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 610,549 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,503,000 after acquiring an additional 83,896 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lennar by 157.5% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,889,000 after acquiring an additional 351,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 1st quarter worth $61,807,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Up 2.1 %

Lennar stock opened at $192.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.80. Lennar Co. has a 1-year low of $102.90 and a 1-year high of $193.80. The company has a current ratio of 4.93, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. On average, analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LEN. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $174.00) on shares of Lennar in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research decreased their price target on Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Lennar from $237.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.71.

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.