Headlands Technologies LLC Makes New $1.19 Million Investment in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,701 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Community Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 14.6% in the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 4,465 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the third quarter worth $533,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,444,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lennar by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 691,910 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $129,719,000 after buying an additional 3,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 5.9% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 19,557 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wolfe Research cut Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Lennar from $141.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.07.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $114.37 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.97. Lennar Co. has a 1-year low of $111.26 and a 1-year high of $187.61. The firm has a market cap of $30.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.57 EPS. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.57%.

Lennar 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.