Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.12 EPS

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. Lennar’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.82 EPS.

Lennar Stock Performance

Lennar stock opened at $138.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.54 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. Lennar has a twelve month low of $135.21 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Lennar from $164.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays cut Lennar from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $210.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $184.00.

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.