Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $294.59 Million Stock Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 0.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,571,298 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 7,031 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $294,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Navellier & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Lennar in the third quarter valued at $594,000. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. acquired a new position in Lennar in the third quarter valued at $216,000. German American Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 6.6% in the third quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 32,190 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,035,000 after buying an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department lifted its holdings in Lennar by 2.9% in the third quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 10,793 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, Payden & Rygel acquired a new position in Lennar in the third quarter valued at $9,955,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.56.

Lennar Stock Up 0.7 %

LEN opened at $169.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $45.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.20, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.62. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $125.17 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $178.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.20.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Lennar

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.