Lennar stock analysis: Berkshire lifts stake to 11.2%
Berkshire Hathaway now owns 11.2% of homebuilder Lennar, though its buying has slowed. The filing, the stake's growth and a housing market under pressure.
Key takeaways
- Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake in Lennar to 11.2%, according to an SEC filing reported by CNBC’s Warren Buffett Watch newsletter.
- The position is 26.6 million shares, worth about $2.1 billion at Friday’s close.
- Daily buying has slowed from the pace set in mid- and late September.
- Morgan Stanley started coverage of Lennar with an underweight rating, and the average 30-year mortgage rate has climbed to 7.28%.
The news
This Lennar stock analysis centers on a regulatory filing. Late Wednesday, Berkshire disclosed that over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it bought $53.6 million of Lennar Class A shares and another $329,000 of the super-voting Class B shares. The purchases lifted Berkshire’s ownership of the homebuilder to 11.2%.
The stake has grown quickly this year, as CNBC’s tally of Berkshire’s position shows.
| Date | Lennar shares held by Berkshire |
|---|---|
| End of 2025 | 7.2 million |
| End of Q1 2026 | 10.3 million |
| End of Q2 2026 | 13.4 million (5.4% stake, $1.2 billion) |
| Early October 2026 | 26.6 million (11.2% stake, $2.1 billion) |
The second-quarter figure was almost 30% above the first-quarter count, which was itself 43% above the year-end number.
Why the filings matter
For much of the third quarter Berkshire’s buying was not visible. As Lennar stock kept sliding, Berkshire continued to add shares until its holding reached 10% in mid-September. That level triggered an SEC rule requiring it to report further transactions within two business days. Two filings last week then showed that it bought almost $349 million of Lennar shares on six of the seven trading days from September 17 to September 25, which CNBC calculates at about $58 million for each day it bought.
The latest filing shows a lower rate. Through Wednesday this week the average was just under $18 million a day. No new filing had appeared as of the newsletter’s publication on Friday night. Because Form 4 reports are due within two business days, any purchases on Thursday or Friday would not have to be disclosed until Monday.
Housing backdrop and Wall Street view
Berkshire is wagering on a long-term recovery in a housing market CNBC describes as struggling. Six straight weekly increases have taken the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 7.28%, according to Freddie Mac’s survey of October 1, its highest since November 2023. CNBC’s Diana Olick reports that high rates have discouraged buyers, who are also facing higher prices than a year ago.
Analysts are not uniformly constructive in the near term. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Thursday with an underweight rating and a $65 price target, almost 19% below Friday’s close of $79.81, a day when Lennar fell 2.8%.
Berkshire by the numbers
The same newsletter lists several Berkshire figures. Class B shares were at $502.65 with a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64. Cash stood at $365.5 billion at June 30, down 8.0% from March 31, and the company repurchased $4.5 billion of its own shares in the second quarter. The newsletter also notes that Warren Buffett returned to No. 10 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $143 billion.
What to watch
Monday’s filing deadline, which will show whether Berkshire bought on Thursday or Friday, further changes in mortgage rates and whether the homebuilder’s shares stabilize. This article reports public filings and published commentary and is not investment advice.
Prepared with AI assistance from public sources and reviewed under our editorial policy. Not investment advice.