Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires New Stake in Lennar Corporation $LEN

Key Points

• Mirae Asset Global Investments acquired 67,365 Lennar shares in the third quarter, valued at approximately $5.5 million; institutional investors own 81.1% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly negative: Lennar has a consensus “Strong Sell” rating from 19 analysts and an average price target of $78.87.
• Berkshire Hathaway bought more than 1.7 million shares for about $135.7 million. Lennar’s latest quarter missed earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue down 8.7% year over year.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 67,365 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $5,496,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its position in shares of Lennar by 14.4% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 12,675 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 19.3% during the third quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,814 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the period. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lennar by 0.6% in the third quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 38,239 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,120,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust Co boosted its holdings in Lennar by 35.7% in the third quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 26,957 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 7,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Dakota State Investment Board increased its position in Lennar by 184.5% in the third quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 17,355 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 11,255 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Lennar from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 14th. Seaport Research Partners reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Lennar from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Argus set a $108.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Lennar from $65.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and eleven have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of "Strong Sell" and a consensus target price of $78.87.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,708,095 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $79.44 per share, for a total transaction of $135,691,066.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 28,438,045 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,118,294.80. This trade represents a 6.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 7,502,276 shares of company stock worth $595,303,287 in the last ninety days. 10.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lennar Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $91.73 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.97. The stock has a market cap of $21.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 4.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Lennar Corporation has a 12 month low of $71.78 and a 12 month high of $133.76.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 16th. The construction company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.06). Lennar had a net margin of 4.09% and a return on equity of 6.15%. The company had revenue of $8.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Lennar Corporation will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Lennar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.81%.

Lennar Profile

Lennar Corporation NYSE: LEN is a homebuilding and real estate company that develops, constructs, and sells primarily single-family homes. The company offers homes across a range of price points and designs, including residences for first-time, move-up, luxury, and active-adult buyers. Its operations also include land acquisition and development, allowing Lennar to prepare communities and lots for residential construction.

In addition to homebuilding, Lennar develops multifamily rental properties and provides related financial services.

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