Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Shares Gap Down to $192.45

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $192.45, but opened at $185.49. Lennar shares last traded at $183.75, with a volume of 642,978 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LEN. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. BTIG Research lowered their target price on Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lennar from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James cut Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $174.61.

Lennar Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $176.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.80. The stock has a market cap of $50.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.91 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased 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 worth $362,685,000 after buying an additional 1,962,447 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Lennar by 15.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $452,886,000 after buying an additional 396,951 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of Lennar in the first quarter valued at approximately $61,807,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 157.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,889,000 after purchasing an additional 351,698 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 20.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $302,084,000 after purchasing an additional 348,553 shares during the period. 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.