Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 501 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,397 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Lennar during the first quarter worth about $61,807,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 157.5% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 575,003 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,889,000 after buying an additional 351,698 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Lennar in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,998,000. Cercano Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar during the first quarter valued at approximately $24,341,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 4th quarter worth $16,394,000. 81.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lennar Stock Up 1.8 %

LEN opened at $181.38 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.68. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $102.90 and a 52 week high of $186.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 4.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $49.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $8.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.57 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 11.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on LEN. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. BTIG Research cut 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. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.69.

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.