CENTRAL TRUST Co Trims Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 74.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,114 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 6,023 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Lennar were worth $288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LEN. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Lennar during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after purchasing an additional 589,553 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 258.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,774,000 after purchasing an additional 356,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 23,048.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,209,000 after purchasing an additional 149,812 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.50.

Lennar Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of LEN stock opened at $128.36 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $145.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.93. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $34.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.67. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $125.21 and a twelve month high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.95%.

Lennar 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.