Cypress Capital Group Cuts Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Cypress Capital Group cut its holdings in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,826 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 859 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LEN. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 428.9% during the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 2,420,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $362,685,000 after buying an additional 1,962,447 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lennar by 15.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021,856 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $452,886,000 after buying an additional 396,951 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar during the first quarter valued at $61,807,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Lennar by 258.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,774,000 after acquiring an additional 356,731 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 157.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $98,889,000 after acquiring an additional 351,698 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LEN shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Lennar from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Zelman & Associates raised Lennar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their target price on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $180.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $3,064,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of LEN stock opened at $168.23 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.15. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $125.17 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.91 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.25%.

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.