Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 4,488 Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,488 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Lennar by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 226,081 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $30,831,000 after buying an additional 9,714 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its stake in shares of Lennar by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 12,738 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,737,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 69.4% during the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 183 shares of the construction company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lennar by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,484 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LEN has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and issued a $131.00 price objective (down from $159.00) on shares of Lennar in a research report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Lennar from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Lennar from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Lennar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lennar currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $150.07.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEN traded down $1.85 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $109.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,344,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,614,020. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $110.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.65. The company has a market capitalization of $28.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $98.42 and a fifty-two week high of $187.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.44 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. Lennar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.57%.

Lennar 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.