Ellsworth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,459 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $2,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in Lennar by 69.4% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in Lennar by 933.3% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 155 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 4,225.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 173 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.50.

Lennar Trading Up 0.6 %

Lennar stock opened at $141.55 on Monday. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $128.41 and a 52 week high of $193.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $152.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.49. The stock has a market cap of $38.39 billion, a PE ratio of 9.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.82 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.95%.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In other Lennar news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.