Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,921 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,235 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Lennar were worth $807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Lennar during the third quarter valued at $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Lennar by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after purchasing an additional 589,553 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Lennar by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Lennar by 258.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,774,000 after purchasing an additional 356,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Lennar by 23,048.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,209,000 after purchasing an additional 149,812 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LEN shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research cut Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research cut Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.88.

Lennar Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of LEN stock opened at $122.37 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $135.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.41. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lennar Co. has a 12-month low of $119.25 and a 12-month high of $193.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.67.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

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.