UMB Bank n.a. Increases Stake in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 56.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 835 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 69.4% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new position in Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in Lennar by 933.3% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 155 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lennar by 4,225.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 173 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during 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 brokerages have commented on LEN. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Lennar from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.50.

Lennar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $134.45 on Friday. Lennar Co. has a fifty-two week low of $128.41 and a fifty-two week high of $193.80. The company has a market cap of $36.47 billion, a PE ratio of 9.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 4.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.19.

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). Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.95%.

Insider Transactions at Lennar

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $3,064,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,689 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,654.57. The trade was a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.36% of the company’s stock.

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.