Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,201 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,558 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,201 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Lennar by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,106,798,000 after acquiring an additional 73,638 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 589,553 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $133,303,000 after buying an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 691,910 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $129,719,000 after buying an additional 3,130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LEN shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.53.

Lennar Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $115.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization 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. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $126.09 and its 200 day moving average is $153.48. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $111.26 and a 1 year high of $187.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.44 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.57 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.95%.

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.