Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Research Coverage Started at Goldman Sachs Group

Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN) in a research report released on Friday morning, 24/7 WallStreet reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $71.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Lennar from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Lennar from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Seaport Global Securities started coverage on shares of Lennar in a report on Friday, August 23rd. They set a buy rating and a $71.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BTIG Research raised their target price on Lennar from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $60.47.

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $58.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.83 and its 200 day moving average is $53.60. Lennar has a one year low of $37.29 and a one year high of $62.63. The firm has a market cap of $18.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 14.19 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 2nd. The construction company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.48 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lennar will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, Director Irving Bolotin sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.90, for a total value of $294,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,866,658.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Jonathan M. Jaffe sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $1,120,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,126 shares of company stock valued at $2,954,819 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.43% of the company’s stock.

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEN. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at $368,986,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 71.7% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,735,815 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $229,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,978,045 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth $37,639,000. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth $32,164,000. Finally, Carillon Tower Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lennar in the third quarter valued at about $29,555,000. 86.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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, Lennar Financial Services, Lennar Multifamily, and Rialto 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.

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