Tidal Investments LLC Reduces Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Tidal Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 20.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,611 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,193 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Lennar by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,106,798,000 after buying an additional 73,638 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $452,886,000 after buying an additional 396,951 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lennar by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,991,000 after buying an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in Lennar by 428.9% during the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $362,685,000 after buying an additional 1,962,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Lennar by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LEN shares. StockNews.com downgraded Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. 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 note on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Lennar from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $210.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $182.88.

Lennar Stock Performance

LEN opened at $151.52 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.97. The stock has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.61. Lennar Co. has a 1-year low of $140.65 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.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lennar Co. will post 14.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.25%.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

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.