Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) Short Interest Update

Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,270,000 shares, a growth of 24.4% from the October 15th total of 5,040,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.56.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,148,654.57. This represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Lennar by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,775 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,089,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Lennar by 23,048.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 150,462 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,209,000 after buying an additional 149,812 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. purchased a new position in Lennar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $477,000. Rockport Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $996,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:LEN traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $170.31. The company had a trading volume of 613,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,044,155. The company has a current ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $179.56 and a 200 day moving average of $168.66. The company has a market cap of $46.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.62. Lennar has a 1 year low of $125.17 and a 1 year high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Lennar will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

Lennar Company 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.