Stiles Financial Services Inc Grows Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,847 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 827 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Lennar in the third quarter valued at about $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after purchasing an additional 589,553 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lennar by 258.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,774,000 after buying an additional 356,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 23,048.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,209,000 after acquiring an additional 149,812 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their target price on Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.19.

Lennar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $121.95 on Monday. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $121.40 and a 1 year high of $193.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 4.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $141.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.69. The company has a market capitalization of $32.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.67.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released 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). Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same period in the previous 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. On average, research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.