Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stake in Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,179 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,526 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Lennar were worth $5,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in Lennar by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 4,818 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych lifted its holdings in Lennar by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 1,200 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Unison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lennar by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 37,040 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,051,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seed Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 3.5% during the first quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,880 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on LEN. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $164.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Lennar from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, JMP Securities lowered their price target on shares of Lennar from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.50.

Lennar Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $111.82 on Wednesday. Lennar Corporation has a one year low of $98.42 and a one year high of $187.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.65 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 1.33.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 16th. The construction company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by ($0.04). Lennar had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The business had revenue of $8.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Lennar Corporation will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.54%.

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.