Summit Global Investments Raises Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Summit Global Investments grew its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 207.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 49,219 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 33,210 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Lennar were worth $7,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 50.7% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 40,161 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,507,000 after buying an additional 13,506 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 4.5% during the third quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 4,243 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 0.9% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 31,411 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,525,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Lennar by 5.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 261,551 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,354,000 after purchasing an additional 12,936 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Lennar by 85.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 27,631 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,101,000 after purchasing an additional 12,758 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LEN. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Lennar from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $224.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Lennar from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lennar from $175.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.88.

Lennar Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE LEN traded up $2.36 during trading on Thursday, hitting $154.83. 701,284 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,072,698. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $102.90 and a 1 year high of $172.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $159.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.36. Lennar had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The company had revenue of $7.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lennar news, Director Amy Banse purchased 1,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $157.00 per share, with a total value of $247,275.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,859 shares in the company, valued at $1,861,863. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.