Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $130.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $160.00 to $130.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an underperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on LEN. Zelman & Associates raised Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $225.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.94.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $138.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 4.90. The firm has a market cap of $37.45 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. Lennar has a one year low of $135.21 and a one year high of $193.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $168.98 and a 200 day moving average of $169.51.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEN. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in Lennar by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,075 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $577,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its position in Lennar by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its stake in shares of Lennar by 0.5% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 15,074 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Lennar by 1.0% in the third quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,667 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Company 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.