Eminence Capital LP Grows Position in Lennar Corporation $LEN

Key Points

• Eminence Capital LP significantly increased its stake in Lennar Corporation by 130.8%, now holding 1,581,489 shares, making it the firm's 7th biggest holding.
• Analysts have mixed ratings and price targets for Lennar, with some upgrades and downgrades; the average price target is currently $130.77, while the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold."
• Lennar reported earnings of $1.90 per share for the recent quarter, which was below analysts' expectations, though revenue exceeded forecasts at $8.38 billion.

Eminence Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) by 130.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,581,489 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 896,264 shares during the period. Lennar comprises 3.0% of Eminence Capital LP's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Eminence Capital LP owned 0.60% of Lennar worth $181,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEN. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Franchise Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Disciplina Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 179.8% during the 1st quarter. Disciplina Capital Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $122.00 to $98.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. JMP Securities reduced their target price 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. Zelman & Associates lowered shares of Lennar from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Lennar from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $130.77.

Lennar Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE LEN traded up $3.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $141.81. The stock had a trading volume of 4,266,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,986,634. The company's 50 day moving average price is $121.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.97. The firm has a market cap of $36.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 3.65. Lennar Corporation has a twelve month low of $98.42 and a twelve month high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, June 16th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $8.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lennar Corporation will post 12.48 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Lennar's payout ratio is 16.54%.

Lennar Company 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.