South Dakota Investment Council Sells 3,300 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 31.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,215 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LEN. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 97.5% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 547 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 2,359 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 78,996.2% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 20,565 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 20,539 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in Lennar by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its stake in Lennar by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 52,168 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,855,000 after buying an additional 5,531 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LEN. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Lennar from $224.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Lennar from $161.00 to $157.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on Lennar from $179.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.88.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In related news, Director Amy Banse purchased 1,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $157.00 per share, for a total transaction of $247,275.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,861,863. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $152.79 on Friday. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $102.90 and a 52 week high of $172.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.55.

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

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

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.