Swiss National Bank Acquires 27,500 Shares of Lennar Corporation $LEN

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank increased its Lennar stake by 4.8% in the first quarter, buying 27,500 additional shares to hold 601,468 shares valued at about $52.2 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains cautious: analysts’ consensus rating is "Reduce", with one Buy, seven Hold, and ten Sell ratings, and an average price target of $92.80.
• Lennar recently beat earnings expectations with EPS of $1.31 versus $1.24 expected, though revenue missed estimates at $7.94 billion and fell 5.2% year over year; the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 601,468 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 27,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.24% of Lennar worth $52,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Viking Global Investors LP grew its position in shares of Lennar by 86.7% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,523,594 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $279,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,068 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its holdings in Lennar by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 1,963,373 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $201,835,000 after purchasing an additional 934,856 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Lennar in the fourth quarter worth about $95,941,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Lennar by 1,303.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 490,105 shares of the construction company's stock worth $50,383,000 after buying an additional 455,174 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,127,225 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $218,681,000 after buying an additional 228,247 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LEN shares. BTIG Research set a $67.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Lennar in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Evercore upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Argus set a $108.00 price target on Lennar in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and ten have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $92.80.

Lennar Trading Up 0.2%

LEN stock opened at $82.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 4.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Lennar Corporation has a 1-year low of $81.18 and a 1-year high of $144.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.38. The company has a market capitalization of $19.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.38.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 11th. The construction company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.07. Lennar had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 7.08%. The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Lennar Corporation will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Lennar's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.30%.

About Lennar

Lennar Corporation NYSE: LEN is a U.S.-based homebuilder and real estate company that designs, constructs and sells residential housing. The company offers a range of product types including single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominiums, serving buyers from entry-level and first-time purchasers to move-up, active-adult and luxury segments. Lennar also develops master-planned communities and manages land acquisition and entitlement activities that support its homebuilding operations.

In addition to home construction and sales, Lennar provides a suite of ancillary services intended to streamline the purchase process and capture additional value.

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