Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Lennar Corporation, purchasing 8,741 shares valued at approximately $1,003,000 during the first quarter.
• Analysts from several brokerages have downgraded Lennar's target prices, with Barclays setting a new price objective of $95.00 and Evercore ISI at $114.00, reflecting a cautious outlook.
• Lennar reported earnings of $1.90 per share for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate, with a decline in revenue of 4.4% compared to the same period last year.

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,741 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $1,003,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,545,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 4,482 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at about $66,000. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,118 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 15.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 433,672 shares of the construction company's stock worth $49,777,000 after buying an additional 58,134 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $131.00 to $114.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. JMP Securities decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $164.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $128.00 to $114.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $128.85.

Lennar Stock Up 5.2%

LEN stock traded up $6.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $130.94. The company had a trading volume of 5,588,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,673,125. Lennar Corporation has a 1 year low of $98.42 and a 1 year high of $193.80. The company has a current ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.83, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $113.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.29.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 16th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.94 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $8.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.21 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Lennar's revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lennar Corporation will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Lennar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.