Swedbank AB Buys 8,405 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Swedbank AB lifted its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,709 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,405 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.06% of Lennar worth $30,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,089,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Lennar by 23,048.0% in the third 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. Fulton Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in Lennar during the second quarter valued at $477,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in Lennar during the first quarter valued at $996,000. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,991,000 after buying an additional 89,896 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 9.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lennar Stock Up 5.6 %

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $178.70 on Tuesday. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $125.17 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $48.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $177.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.46.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. Lennar’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors 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 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Lennar from $154.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Zelman & Associates upgraded Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $164.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.56.

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.