ABC Arbitrage SA Makes New $3.70 Million Investment in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 27,141 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,701,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LEN. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar during the third quarter valued at approximately $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after acquiring an additional 589,553 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 397,492 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 258.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,774,000 after acquiring an additional 356,731 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lennar by 23,048.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,209,000 after purchasing an additional 149,812 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lennar Price Performance

NYSE:LEN opened at $123.85 on Friday. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $119.25 and a 52 week high of $193.80. The firm has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $163.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 4.71.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Lennar’s payout ratio is currently 13.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.06.

Lennar 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.