Brokerages Set Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) Price Target at $106.14

Shares of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $102.7857.

LEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on Lennar from $122.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. BTIG Research set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 5th.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Lennar by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,727 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 13,840 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after buying an additional 3,177 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in Lennar by 2.3% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,468 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lennar by 10.6% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 42,079 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,654,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in Lennar in the second quarter worth about $1,280,000. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $97.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 4.77. Lennar has a fifty-two week low of $92.17 and a fifty-two week high of $144.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.01.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The construction company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.07). Lennar had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 5.39%.The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Key Stories Impacting Lennar

Here are the key news stories impacting Lennar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several major brokers still show modest upside in their revised targets — UBS lowered its target to $107 (about a 10% upside to the current price), Citigroup lowered to $104 (~7% upside) and Wells Fargo to $100 (~3% upside). Those remaining above the market may be supporting buying interest. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: HousingWire ran an analysis of Lennar’s margin strategy — a deeper read on management’s approach to margins and pricing that could influence medium-term profitability but is ambiguous near-term for the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly results disappointed: LEN reported $0.88 EPS vs. consensus ~ $0.96 and revenue of $6.62B vs. ~$6.88B — misses that typically pressure residential builders due to sensitivity to volumes and pricing. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple broker notes cut price targets and/or ratings — Barclays cut to $85 and set an underweight, Truist cut to $95 (hold), and other firms trimmed targets — signaling reduced near-term conviction from some sell-side analysts. Those downgrades increase downside risk for investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Local opposition to Lennar’s Hill Country developments is getting press attention; heightened community resistance and permitting/legal risks can slow or add cost to projects in key markets. Read More.

About Lennar

Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) is a U.S.-based homebuilder and real estate company that designs, constructs and sells residential housing. The company offers a range of product types including single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominiums, serving buyers from entry-level and first-time purchasers to move-up, active-adult and luxury segments. Lennar also develops master-planned communities and manages land acquisition and entitlement activities that support its homebuilding operations.

In addition to home construction and sales, Lennar provides a suite of ancillary services intended to streamline the purchase process and capture additional value.