Schroder Investment Management Group Buys 23,898 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 18.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 154,078 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,898 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Lennar were worth $20,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lennar during the 3rd quarter worth $533,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Lennar by 5.9% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 19,557 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092 shares in the last quarter. Miller Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of Lennar by 11.2% in the third quarter. Miller Investment Management LP now owns 101,070 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $18,949,000 after purchasing an additional 10,199 shares during the period. Prana Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 288,661 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $54,118,000 after buying an additional 117,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lennar by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 9,628 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on LEN. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America cut their target price on Lennar from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. StockNews.com cut Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $131.00 target price (down previously from $159.00) on shares of Lennar in a report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.07.

Lennar Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE LEN opened at $115.67 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.73. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $111.26 and a twelve month high of $187.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $30.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.07, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69.

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

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 14.57%.

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.