Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Shares Purchased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 13.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,278 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 3,674 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $5,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LEN. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Lennar by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,991,000 after acquiring an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 428.9% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $362,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,447 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 20.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $302,084,000 after acquiring an additional 348,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP raised its stake in Lennar by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 655,368 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,220,000 after purchasing an additional 83,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on LEN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com cut Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Finally, Zelman & Associates upgraded Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.56.

Lennar Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE LEN opened at $173.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 4.90. Lennar Co. has a one year low of $125.17 and a one year high of $193.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $177.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.15%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.25%.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the 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 owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

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.