Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Rating Lowered to "Neutral" at BTIG Research

BTIG Research lowered shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

LEN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Lennar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $175.94.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE LEN traded down $0.32 on Friday, hitting $138.08. 9,057,424 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,106,758. The company has a current ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business's 50 day moving average price is $169.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.58. The company has a market capitalization of $37.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. Lennar has a 52-week low of $135.21 and a 52-week high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.82 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Lennar will post 14.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 9.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Lennar by 23,048.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company's stock worth $28,209,000 after acquiring an additional 149,812 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 3.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $499,991,000 after purchasing an additional 89,896 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lennar by 101.2% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,673 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,626,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 8.7% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,463 shares of the construction company's stock worth $19,022,000 after buying an additional 8,092 shares during the period. Finally, Soditic Asset Management LLP boosted its position in Lennar by 143.1% during the 3rd quarter. Soditic Asset Management LLP now owns 29,290 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $5,491,000 after acquiring an additional 17,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company's stock.

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.