Natixis Decreases Stock Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Natixis lessened its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 60,580 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,981 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Lennar were worth $10,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 3.6% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,760,729 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $303,585,000 after acquiring an additional 60,713 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Lennar by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,550,371 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $231,067,000 after buying an additional 8,008 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Lennar by 6,297.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 662,277 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,706,000 after buying an additional 651,924 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Lennar by 97.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 354,711 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,866,000 after buying an additional 174,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Lennar by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 325,796 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,557,000 after buying an additional 34,079 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on LEN. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $174.00) on shares of Lennar in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Lennar from $157.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Raymond James downgraded Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Lennar from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.88.

Lennar Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE LEN traded up $2.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $171.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,844,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,153,931. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $102.90 and a fifty-two week high of $177.79. The company has a market cap of $47.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 4.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $155.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.53.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.18. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.57 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Executive Vice Preident Jeffrey Joseph McCall sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.11, for a total transaction of $1,701,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 118,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,179,979.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lennar news, Executive Vice Preident Jeffrey Joseph McCall sold 10,000 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.11, for a total transaction of $1,701,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 118,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,179,979.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Mark Sustana sold 9,176 shares of Lennar stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.88, for a total value of $1,512,938.88. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 16,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,764,707.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,176 shares of company stock valued at $4,841,039 in the last three months. 9.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.