Royal Bank of Canada Raises Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Price Target to $160.00

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $145.00 to $160.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underperform” rating on the construction company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential downside of 13.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $164.00 price target (down previously from $174.00) on shares of Lennar in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $177.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Lennar from $157.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.72.

Lennar Price Performance

NYSE LEN opened at $184.26 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.30. Lennar has a 52-week low of $102.90 and a 52-week high of $193.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $9.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.58% and a return on equity of 15.93%. Lennar’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.91 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Lennar will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennar

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Lennar by 15.1% in the 2nd 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 period. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in Lennar by 428.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,962,447 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Lennar by 20.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,015,641 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $302,084,000 after purchasing an additional 348,553 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,760,729 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $303,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60,713 shares during the period. Finally, Eminence Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 655,368 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,220,000 after buying an additional 83,316 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.