Lennar’s (LEN) “Market Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $170.00 price target on the construction company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, March 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an outperform rating and set a $183.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an underperform rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lennar from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $168.07.

Lennar Stock Up 0.3 %

LEN stock opened at $149.19 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.93, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lennar has a twelve month low of $102.90 and a twelve month high of $172.59. The company’s 50 day moving average is $156.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.78. The stock has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.56.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 23rd. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Executive Vice Preident Jeffrey Joseph McCall sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.11, for a total value of $1,701,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 118,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,179,979.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Mark Sustana sold 9,176 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.88, for a total transaction of $1,512,938.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 16,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,764,707.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Executive Vice Preident Jeffrey Joseph McCall sold 10,000 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.11, for a total value of $1,701,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 118,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,179,979.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,176 shares of company stock valued at $4,841,039. 9.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,089,000 after buying an additional 4,207 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lennar by 342.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 18,830 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,238,000 after purchasing an additional 14,578 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Lennar by 54.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 42,797 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,360,000 after purchasing an additional 15,024 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments raised its stake in Lennar by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 78,364 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Lennar in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,998,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

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.