Central Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 482 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,387 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position 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 valued at $362,685,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,447 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar during the third quarter valued at about $115,229,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 258.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,774,000 after acquiring an additional 356,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Lennar by 20.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $302,084,000 after acquiring an additional 348,553 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lennar Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of LEN stock opened at $141.55 on Tuesday. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $128.41 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The stock has a market cap of $38.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $152.92 and a 200 day moving average of $167.49. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 42.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEN. UBS Group reduced their price target on Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Lennar from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Zelman & Associates raised Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.50.

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.