Jennison Associates LLC Grows Stock Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 97.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 354,711 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 174,981 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Lennar were worth $52,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in Lennar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,132,000. OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new position in shares of Lennar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lennar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 23,728 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Lennar by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,048 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $752,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Amy Banse purchased 1,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $157.00 per share, with a total value of $247,275.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,863. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 9.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lennar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LEN opened at $155.66 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $159.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.41. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $102.90 and a fifty-two week high of $172.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 5.47 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The construction company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $7.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.39 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 11.59%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lennar Co. will post 14.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Lennar from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Lennar from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Lennar in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Lennar from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.88.

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.