Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Grows Stock Holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN) by 611.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 299 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $41,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LEN. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lennar by 69.4% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Lennar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in Lennar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Lennar in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 234 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Lennar from $141.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lennar from $141.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lennar from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $131.00 price objective (down previously from $159.00) on shares of Lennar in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Lennar from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.07.

Lennar Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE LEN opened at $110.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.68, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $113.14 and its 200 day moving average is $137.33. Lennar Co. has a 52 week low of $98.42 and a 52 week high of $187.61.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The construction company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.44. Lennar had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.57 earnings per share. Lennar’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 12.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Lennar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.57%.

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.