Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $170.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $210.00 to $170.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on LEN. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Zelman & Associates upgraded Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Lennar from $181.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.94.

Lennar Stock Down 0.2 %

LEN opened at $138.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.90 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $37.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. Lennar has a 12 month low of $135.21 and a 12 month high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Lennar will post 14.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.95%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 23,048.0% during 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. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 89,896 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 147.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,226 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,978,000 after purchasing an additional 41,264 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,673 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,626,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Lennar by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,463 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $19,022,000 after buying an additional 8,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.