EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Trims Stock Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. cut its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 20.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,155 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,151 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LEN. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Lennar by 3.6% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,760,729 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $303,585,000 after acquiring an additional 60,713 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,550,371 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $231,067,000 after purchasing an additional 8,008 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.8% during the first quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 648,867 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $111,592,000 after purchasing an additional 23,483 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 15.9% during the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 610,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $91,503,000 after purchasing an additional 83,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 157.5% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,889,000 after purchasing an additional 351,698 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $237.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.13.

Lennar Price Performance

LEN traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $184.74. 563,888 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,108,713. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $162.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.11. Lennar Co. has a 1-year low of $102.90 and a 1-year high of $186.60.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.57 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.58% and a return on equity of 15.93%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lennar Co. will post 14.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.60%.

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.