Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $196.00 to $150.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Lennar traded as low as $133.69 and last traded at $133.98, with a volume of 769954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.06.

LEN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Lennar from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Lennar from $210.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $172.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in Lennar by 428.9% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $362,685,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,447 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $115,229,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 valued at $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Lennar by 15.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company's stock worth $452,886,000 after acquiring an additional 396,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Lennar by 258.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $92,774,000 after acquiring an additional 356,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company's stock.

Lennar Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $159.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.30. 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 stock has a market cap of $36.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.66.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $9.95 billion during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.11 EPS for the current year.

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.