Candriam S.C.A. Acquires 5,718 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 47.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,649 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,718 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $2,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 1.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,106,798,000 after purchasing an additional 73,638 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $446,110,000 after purchasing an additional 589,553 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,991,000 after purchasing an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 2.6% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $133,303,000 after purchasing an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LEN. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $152.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.88.

Lennar Price Performance

LEN opened at $125.24 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $129.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $33.25 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $116.67 and a 1 year high of $187.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.95%.

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.