Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on LEN. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Lennar from $237.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup restated a neutral rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $174.00) on shares of Lennar in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an underperform rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a neutral rating and set a $144.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennar presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $174.61.

Lennar Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $182.48 on Friday. Lennar has a 52-week low of $102.90 and a 52-week high of $193.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 4.93. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $163.96. The firm has a market cap of $50.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. Lennar had a net margin of 11.58% and a return on equity of 15.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Lennar will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lennar by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Lennar by 428.9% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $362,685,000 after buying an additional 1,962,447 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 20.9% in the second 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. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Lennar by 3.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,760,729 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $303,585,000 after buying an additional 60,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP increased its stake in Lennar by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 655,368 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,220,000 after acquiring an additional 83,316 shares during the period. 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.