Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target Increased to $159.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price boosted by UBS Group from $150.00 to $159.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on LEN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Lennar from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, June 16th. Raymond James upgraded Lennar from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Seaport Res Ptn restated a buy rating on shares of Lennar in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $123.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Monday, September 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Lennar from $113.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $130.94.

Lennar Price Performance

LEN opened at $117.03 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $33.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.48. Lennar has a 1 year low of $69.90 and a 1 year high of $133.24. The company has a current ratio of 7.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.64.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, September 15th. The construction company reported $3.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.39. Lennar had a return on equity of 16.41% and a net margin of 11.66%. The company had revenue of $8.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Lennar will post 12.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 7th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennar

In other Lennar news, CFO Diane J. Bessette sold 10,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $1,310,553.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 270,556 shares in the company, valued at $32,861,731.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Amy Banse bought 859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $117.65 per share, with a total value of $101,061.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 8,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,055,555.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Diane J. Bessette sold 10,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $1,310,553.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 270,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,861,731.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 2,634 shares of company stock worth $321,855 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LEN. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 551.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,824,684 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $191,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544,432 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 111.4% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,467,501 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $259,359,000 after buying an additional 1,300,163 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in Lennar by 75,322.0% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 935,987 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $117,288,000 after buying an additional 934,746 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Lennar in the first quarter valued at $61,173,000. Finally, Duquesne Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Lennar in the fourth quarter valued at $39,991,000. Institutional investors own 79.87% 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.