Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $106.3846.

LEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore downgraded shares of Lennar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $114.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $88.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Lennar from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 86.7% during the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,523,594 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $279,135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,068 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 1,963,373 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $201,835,000 after acquiring an additional 934,856 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in Lennar by 14.6% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,732,654 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $596,504,000 after acquiring an additional 603,004 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 1,303.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 490,105 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,383,000 after acquiring an additional 455,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar during the second quarter worth about $25,440,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Performance

LEN stock opened at $122.33 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $113.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.98. Lennar has a fifty-two week low of $98.42 and a fifty-two week high of $144.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 4.89 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 4th. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 25.03%.

Lennar Company Profile

Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) is a U.S.-based homebuilder and real estate company that designs, constructs and sells residential housing. The company offers a range of product types including single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominiums, serving buyers from entry-level and first-time purchasers to move-up, active-adult and luxury segments. Lennar also develops master-planned communities and manages land acquisition and entitlement activities that support its homebuilding operations.

In addition to home construction and sales, Lennar provides a suite of ancillary services intended to streamline the purchase process and capture additional value.