Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Lennar (NYSE:LEN)

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 21,257 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 188% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,383 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LEN. StockNews.com downgraded Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Lennar from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Equitable Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.4% in the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 1,997 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,352,000. Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Lennar by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 7,020 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Lennar by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,685 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Price Performance

NYSE:LEN traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $171.59. 599,798 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,051,043. 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 has a 1 year low of $113.44 and a 1 year high of $193.80. The company has a market cap of $46.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $181.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.45.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lennar will post 14.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.