California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 18,888 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN - Free Report) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 485,411 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 18,888 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of Lennar worth $72,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Lennar in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Lennar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lennar during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in Lennar by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 497 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LEN. Barclays upped their price objective on Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Lennar from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lennar from $161.00 to $157.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $163.88.

Lennar Stock Performance

NYSE LEN traded down $1.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $152.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,062,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,113,354. The business's fifty day moving average price is $159.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.48. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $102.90 and a twelve month high of $172.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 5.47. The firm has a market cap of $42.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.53.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $7.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.39 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lennar's payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennar

In other news, Director Amy Banse purchased 1,575 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $157.00 per share, for a total transaction of $247,275.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,859 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,861,863. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Lennar

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.