Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the September 30th total of 4,670,000 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Lennar from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in Lennar by 933.3% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 155 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Lennar in the first quarter valued at $30,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Lennar during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of LEN stock traded down $1.20 during trading on Thursday, reaching $170.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,605,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,058,228. Lennar has a 1-year low of $104.68 and a 1-year high of $193.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $181.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.45. The company has a market capitalization of $46.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 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.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 14.18 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.60%.

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.