Vest Financial LLC Purchases 88,391 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 60.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 234,798 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,391 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $32,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Lennar by 12.2% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,147 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in Lennar by 32.5% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 17,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,257,000 after purchasing an additional 4,264 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Lennar during the third quarter worth about $395,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $305,000. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Lennar from $210.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.19.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $121.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.67. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $121.40 and a fifty-two week high of $193.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $141.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.74.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. Lennar’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.