Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Lennar (NYSE:LEN)

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 14,931 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 120% compared to the average daily volume of 6,788 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Lennar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their price objective on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $183.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 23,048.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company's stock worth $28,209,000 after purchasing an additional 149,812 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lennar by 3.5% in 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 buying an additional 89,896 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,673 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,626,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Lennar by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,463 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $19,022,000 after acquiring an additional 8,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Soditic Asset Management LLP raised its position in shares of Lennar by 143.1% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company's stock.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE LEN traded down $2.48 during trading on Monday, hitting $151.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,116,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,050,486. Lennar has a 52 week low of $140.65 and a 52 week high of $193.80. The firm has a market cap of $41.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $172.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.07. 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 (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.91 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lennar will post 14.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

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.