Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target Lowered to $80.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $80.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the construction company’s stock.

LEN has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Lennar from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $106.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research set a $90.00 target price on Lennar in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Lennar from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $109.62.

Lennar Stock Down 3.3%

LEN opened at $108.48 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 4.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.51. Lennar has a twelve month low of $98.42 and a twelve month high of $144.24.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 16th. The construction company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $9.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.17 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 27th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $424,950,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Lennar by 45.4% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 8,894,125 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,020,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,777,567 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP grew its holdings in Lennar by 86.7% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,523,594 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $279,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,068 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP raised its position in shares of Lennar by 130.8% during the 1st quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 1,581,489 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $181,523,000 after acquiring an additional 896,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,732,654 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $596,504,000 after purchasing an additional 603,004 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.10% 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.