Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.94.

Lennar Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of LEN opened at $187.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.90 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Lennar has a 1 year low of $102.90 and a 1 year high of $193.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.55. The firm has a market cap of $51.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released 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. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Lennar will post 14.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in Lennar by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 4,053 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Lennar by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 201,548 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,039,000 after purchasing an additional 26,705 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its position in Lennar by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 3,375 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its position in Lennar by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 6,661 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in Lennar by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 49,724 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,411,000 after purchasing an additional 7,350 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.