Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.80-$2.00 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $152.00 to $141.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Lennar from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.53.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of LEN stock opened at $115.09 on Friday. Lennar has a fifty-two week low of $111.26 and a fifty-two week high of $187.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 4.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.48.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.44 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lennar will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 13.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Lennar stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 27.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,727 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 377 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.