Holocene Advisors LP Takes $115.23 Million Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 614,620 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,229,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned approximately 0.23% of Lennar as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Lennar by 54.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 42,797 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,360,000 after buying an additional 15,024 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lennar by 342.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 18,830 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,238,000 after purchasing an additional 14,578 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 21.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,089,000 after purchasing an additional 4,207 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 17.4% in the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,793 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in Lennar by 63.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,843 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $426,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities upped their target price 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 target on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $184.29.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEN opened at $174.39 on Monday. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $130.29 and a 52 week high of $193.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $176.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.72. The company has a market cap of $47.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. The firm 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 for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.91 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.25%.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.36% 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.