Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Lennar Put Options (NYSE:LEN)

Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 12,828 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 130% compared to the average volume of 5,578 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Lennar from $80.00 to $79.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 15th. BTIG Research set a $67.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Lennar from $107.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and ten have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $92.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in Lennar by 86.7% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,523,594 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $279,135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,068 shares during the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its position in Lennar by 90.9% in the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 1,963,373 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $201,835,000 after purchasing an additional 934,856 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Lennar during the 4th quarter worth about $95,941,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Lennar by 1,303.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 490,105 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,383,000 after buying an additional 455,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 19.7% in the first 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Stock Down 1.9%

NYSE LEN traded down $1.70 on Wednesday, reaching $85.85. The stock had a trading volume of 721,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,856,231. The company has a current ratio of 4.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Lennar has a 1 year low of $79.82 and a 1 year high of $144.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.49. The company has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.39.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 11th. The construction company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.08 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 4.93%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.81 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Lennar will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.30%.

Lennar Company Profile

Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) is a U.S.-based homebuilder and real estate company that designs, constructs and sells residential housing. The company offers a range of product types including single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominiums, serving buyers from entry-level and first-time purchasers to move-up, active-adult and luxury segments. Lennar also develops master-planned communities and manages land acquisition and entitlement activities that support its homebuilding operations.

In addition to home construction and sales, Lennar provides a suite of ancillary services intended to streamline the purchase process and capture additional value.