Bellwether Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN)

Key Points

• Bellwether Advisors LLC dramatically increased its holdings in Lennar Corporation by 4,265.0%, acquiring 15,482 shares to reach a total of 15,845 shares valued at approximately $1.82 million.
• Several other hedge funds have also recently bought shares of Lennar, indicating strong interest from institutional investors, who now hold 81.10% of the company's stock.
• Lennar reported $1.90 EPS for the most recent quarter, missing analysts' expectations, and has seen revenues decline by 4.4% year-over-year.

Bellwether Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) by 4,265.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,845 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,482 shares during the quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC's holdings in Lennar were worth $1,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter worth $926,000. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 15.4% in the first quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 2,183 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 2.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 208,763 shares of the construction company's stock worth $23,962,000 after acquiring an additional 4,332 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lennar by 24.8% in the first quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 42,041 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,825,000 after purchasing an additional 8,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 5.4% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,965 shares of the construction company's stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 354 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 equities analysts recently issued reports on LEN shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Lennar from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Lennar from $128.00 to $114.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 20th. JMP Securities decreased their target price on Lennar from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Zelman & Associates downgraded Lennar from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $128.85.

Lennar Stock Performance

LEN traded up $0.61 during trading on Thursday, hitting $112.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,201,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,168,448. The firm has a market cap of $29.26 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.33. Lennar Corporation has a one year low of $98.42 and a one year high of $193.80. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $110.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 9.20%. The business had revenue of $8.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lennar Corporation will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was 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.