Lennar’s (LEN) “In-Line” Rating Reiterated at Evercore ISI

Lennar (NYSE:LEN)‘s stock had its “in-line” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Evercore ISI in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $131.00 price target on the construction company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $159.00. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.82% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $141.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.53.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $115.09 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average price is $126.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.13. Lennar has a 52 week low of $111.26 and a 52 week high of $187.61. The stock has a market cap of $30.56 billion, a PE ratio of 8.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.44 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lennar will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lennar by 147.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,226 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,978,000 after purchasing an additional 41,264 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd acquired a new stake in Lennar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Lennar by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after purchasing an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 30,278 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 71.7% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 14,327 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,686,000 after buying an additional 5,981 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lennar

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.