Shellback Capital LP Sells 60,000 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Shellback Capital LP cut its holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 52.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,000 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 60,000 shares during the period. Shellback Capital LP’s holdings in Lennar were worth $8,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions 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 valued at $362,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,447 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $452,886,000 after purchasing an additional 396,951 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at about $61,807,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lennar by 157.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,889,000 after purchasing an additional 351,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 20.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $302,084,000 after buying an additional 348,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zelman & Associates upgraded Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $181.94.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of LEN stock opened at $183.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $50.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.90 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $177.93 and its 200 day moving average is $164.55. Lennar Co. has a 1-year low of $102.90 and a 1-year high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.60%.

Lennar 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.