Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Short Interest Update

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,270,000 shares, an increase of 24.4% from the October 15th total of 5,040,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Lennar Price Performance

LEN stock traded down $0.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $168.85. 1,728,376 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,014,268. The company has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.90 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $179.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.88. Lennar has a twelve month low of $125.17 and a twelve month high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lennar will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.25%.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In other news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased its position in Lennar by 428.9% in the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $362,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,447 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Lennar in the third quarter valued at $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Lennar by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar in the first quarter valued at about $61,807,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Lennar by 258.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,774,000 after acquiring an additional 356,731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lennar from $154.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.56.

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.