Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Hits New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $91.55 and last traded at $91.9370, with a volume of 566171 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEN. Evercore cut shares of Lennar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $114.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Lennar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Lennar from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $102.07.

Lennar Trading Down 3.0%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $111.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 4.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $22.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its holdings in Lennar by 86.7% in the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,523,594 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $279,135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,068 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 1,963,373 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $201,835,000 after purchasing an additional 934,856 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,941,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 14.6% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,732,654 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $596,504,000 after buying an additional 603,004 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Lennar by 1,303.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 490,105 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,383,000 after buying an additional 455,174 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

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.