Barclays Lowers Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $110.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $121.00 to $110.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on LEN. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Lennar from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $141.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.07.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE:LEN opened at $117.90 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. The firm has a market cap of $31.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $125.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.03. Lennar has a 1-year low of $111.26 and a 1-year high of $187.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lennar will post 12.48 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennar

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 147.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,226 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,978,000 after acquiring an additional 41,264 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 30,278 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,677,000 after buying an additional 3,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Lennar by 71.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,981 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.