Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target Raised to $230.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price target increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $183.00 to $230.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on LEN. StockNews.com cut shares of Lennar from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. BTIG Research decreased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Lennar from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Lennar from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $144.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $172.06.

Lennar Stock Performance

Lennar stock opened at $179.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $49.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $161.93. Lennar has a 1-year low of $102.90 and a 1-year high of $186.60.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.18. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.57 billion. On average, analysts expect that Lennar will post 14.16 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 4,053 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Lennar by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,366 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lennar by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,550,371 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $231,067,000 after purchasing an additional 8,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in Lennar by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 49,127 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,321,000 after purchasing an additional 29,028 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

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.