Banco Santander S.A. Invests $206,000 in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,507 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LEN. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Lennar in the third quarter valued at about $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Lennar by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $446,110,000 after buying an additional 589,553 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Lennar by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $308,696,000 after acquiring an additional 397,492 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Lennar by 258.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,774,000 after acquiring an additional 356,731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 2,774.5% during the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 123,142 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,793,000 after acquiring an additional 118,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Lennar from $170.00 to $152.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. BTIG Research cut shares of Lennar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.88.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $125.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $128.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.12. Lennar Co. has a 12 month low of $116.67 and a 12 month high of $187.61. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $33.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.82 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Lennar’s payout ratio is presently 13.95%.

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.