Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $190.00 price target on the construction company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $205.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Lennar from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Lennar from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $181.11.

Lennar Price Performance

NYSE:LEN opened at $178.20 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.61. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.02. Lennar has a 1 year low of $102.90 and a 1 year high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.91 earnings per share. Lennar’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Lennar will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $452,886,000 after buying an additional 396,951 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake in 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 grew its holdings in Lennar by 20.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $302,084,000 after purchasing an additional 348,553 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Lennar by 3.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,760,729 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $303,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 14.6% during 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. Institutional investors own 81.10% 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.