Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Stock Price

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $181.00 to $135.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the construction company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target 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 boosted 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 Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.94.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $138.08 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.98 and a 200-day moving average of $169.43. Lennar has a 1-year low of $135.21 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 company has a market capitalization of $37.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 14.11 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction 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 $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEN. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Lennar by 428.9% during the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $362,685,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,447 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Lennar by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 356,731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased 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 valued at $302,084,000 after buying an additional 348,553 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

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.