River Road Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 391,524 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,474 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $53,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lennar by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $499,991,000 after buying an additional 89,896 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lennar by 147.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,226 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,978,000 after buying an additional 41,264 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd bought a new stake in Lennar during the 4th quarter valued at about $900,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lennar by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,673 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Lennar by 21.4% during 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 buying an additional 397,492 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LEN shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Lennar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Lennar from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.88.

Lennar Price Performance

NYSE:LEN opened at $125.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.69. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $116.67 and a twelve 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’s 50 day moving average is $128.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.12.

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

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.95%.

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.