Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Lennar (NYSE:LEN)

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 14,931 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 120% compared to the typical volume of 6,788 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $182.88.

Lennar Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $151.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. Lennar has a twelve month low of $140.65 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $171.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.97.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 14.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $3,064,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,106,798,000 after purchasing an additional 73,638 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 15.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $452,886,000 after buying an additional 396,951 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 3.5% during the third 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. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings 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 worth $362,685,000 after buying an additional 1,962,447 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $302,084,000 after acquiring an additional 348,553 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.