Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Short Interest Update

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,970,000 shares, an increase of 16.0% from the February 13th total of 7,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in Lennar by 69.4% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 183 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Lennar in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Lennar during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Lennar during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lennar Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Lennar stock traded up $0.98 during trading on Thursday, hitting $121.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,058,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,215,057. The stock has a market cap of $32.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Lennar has a 52 week low of $115.61 and a 52 week high of $193.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.18.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

Lennar Company 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.