Cypress Capital LLC Buys New Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Cypress Capital LLC bought a new stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,353 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Lennar by 1.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,106,798,000 after acquiring an additional 73,638 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Lennar by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after acquiring an additional 589,553 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lennar by 3.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $499,991,000 after acquiring an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Lennar by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after acquiring an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in Lennar by 2.6% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $133,303,000 after acquiring an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LEN. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.88.

Lennar Stock Performance

Shares of LEN stock opened at $120.59 on Friday. Lennar Co. has a 12 month low of $117.90 and a 12 month high of $193.80. The stock has a market cap of $32.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $133.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $161.49.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.95%.

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.