Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Given New $85.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $88.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the construction company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.94% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Lennar from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Benchmark raised Lennar to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Zacks Research lowered Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Lennar from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and ten have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $88.87.

Lennar Stock Performance

Shares of LEN stock opened at $76.62 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 4.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.30. Lennar has a 52 week low of $75.70 and a 52 week high of $133.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.39.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 16th. The construction company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.06). Lennar had a net margin of 4.09% and a return on equity of 6.15%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. Lennar’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lennar will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Lennar by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,546,970 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $221,176,000 after buying an additional 419,745 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 1,963,373 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $201,835,000 after purchasing an additional 934,856 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 4.8% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 601,468 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $52,231,000 after purchasing an additional 27,500 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Lennar by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 461,696 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,462,000 after purchasing an additional 43,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Lennar by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 445,407 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $45,788,000 after purchasing an additional 19,878 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Lennar

Lennar Corporation is one of the largest homebuilders in the United States. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, the company designs, constructs, and sells single-family homes and communities for a range of buyers, including first-time, move-up, and active-adult purchasers.

Lennar operates across many of the country’s major housing markets, including communities in the West, Southwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and other metropolitan areas. Its homebuilding operations offer a variety of floor plans and home designs, while the company also develops residential communities and provides related services such as mortgage financing, title, and closing services through its financial-services businesses.

In addition to traditional homebuilding, Lennar has expanded into multifamily development and other residential real-estate activities.