Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Receives $180.56 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $184.29.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Lennar from $164.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Lennar from $177.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Lennar from $154.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $174.16 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $177.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.56. Lennar has a 1-year low of $125.17 and a 1-year high of $193.80. 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 company has a market cap of $47.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.62.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lennar will post 14.18 EPS 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 paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Lennar by 1.3% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 47,348 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,877,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $241,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar during the 3rd quarter worth about $251,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 9.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 43,049 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,071,000 after acquiring an additional 3,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its holdings in Lennar by 8.7% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 1,973 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is 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.