Lennar’s (LEN) In-Line Rating Reiterated at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI restated their in-line rating on shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $131.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $159.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Wolfe Research downgraded Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.73.

Lennar Stock Up 2.0 %

LEN opened at $117.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Lennar has a one year low of $111.26 and a one year high of $187.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $125.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $152.70.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.44 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.57 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Lennar will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 147.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,226 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,978,000 after buying an additional 41,264 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd purchased a new position in Lennar during the 4th quarter valued at $900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Lennar by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 30,278 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,674 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Lennar by 71.7% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 14,327 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,686,000 after buying an additional 5,981 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Company 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.