Syon Capital LLC Boosts Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Syon Capital LLC grew its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,559 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 711 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LEN. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Lennar by 5.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,544,345 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $734,477,000 after purchasing an additional 366,983 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Lennar by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,681,233 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $399,611,000 after purchasing an additional 79,217 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Lennar by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,700,016 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $253,319,000 after acquiring an additional 72,146 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Lennar by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,542,363 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $173,099,000 after acquiring an additional 6,803 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lennar by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,501,257 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $168,486,000 after purchasing an additional 484,056 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LEN shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Lennar in a research report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lennar from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lennar from $175.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Lennar from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Amy Banse bought 1,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $157.00 per share, for a total transaction of $247,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,861,863. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE:LEN traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $154.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,292,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,104,394. The stock has a market cap of $42.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.71, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 5.47. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $102.90 and a twelve month high of $172.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.55.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for 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 revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. 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.