Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 26,715 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 2,744 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Lennar were worth $3,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lennar during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Lennar during the third quarter valued at $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar in the third quarter worth $29,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lennar during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Lennar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In related news, Director Amy Banse purchased 1,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $157.00 per share, for a total transaction of $247,275.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,863. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LEN. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Lennar from $179.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.88.

Lennar Trading Up 0.0 %

LEN stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $161.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,305,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,053,951. 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 market capitalization of $44.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.69. Lennar Co. has a 52-week low of $102.90 and a 52-week high of $172.59.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.36. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 11.59%. The firm had revenue of $7.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. Lennar’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.02%.

About Lennar

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.