German American Bancorp Inc. Increases Position in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

German American Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,190 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,005 shares during the period. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $6,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in Lennar by 933.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 155 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Lennar during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennar by 4,225.0% in the 3rd 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 period. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LEN. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Lennar from $171.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Lennar from $164.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Lennar from $183.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Lennar from $240.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.56.

Lennar Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Lennar stock opened at $168.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.15. The company has a current ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lennar Co. has a twelve month low of $125.17 and a twelve month high of $193.80.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The construction company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.28. Lennar had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $9.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.91 EPS. Lennar’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,148,654.57. This trade represents a 42.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.