Payden & Rygel Takes Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Payden & Rygel bought a new position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 53,100 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $9,955,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Lennar by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,075 shares of the construction company's stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lennar in the third quarter worth about $2,364,000. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar during the third quarter worth $1,125,000. Commerce Bank raised its stake in Lennar by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 15,074 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Lennar during the third quarter valued at approximately $131,000. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on LEN shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price 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. StockNews.com cut Lennar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $164.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lennar from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $180.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $3,064,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 9.36% of the company's stock.

Lennar Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:LEN traded up $1.20 on Thursday, hitting $169.43. 401,008 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,035,763. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $178.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.15. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $125.17 and a 52 week high of $193.80. 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 company has a market cap of $45.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Lennar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.25%.

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.