Lennar (LEN) stock traded near $82 on Friday, up slightly on the day but still down roughly 20% year to date, after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that its stake in the homebuilder has grown to11% — a position valued at approximately $2.1 billion — according to a Barron's report.

Berkshire purchased nearly 1.7 million Lennar shares between Wednesday and Friday at an average price of $81 per share, lifting its total holding to close to 26 million shares.

The buying crossed a significant regulatory threshold. With ownership now above 10%, Berkshire is legally required to report any future trades in Lennar within two business days, rather than waiting for quarterly filings. That change is significant for anyone tracking the stock: instead of waiting until quarter-end for Berkshire's filings to reveal its next move, investors will now see it reported within days.

The conglomerate has been building the position for months, and it has nearly doubled its Lennar stake since the end of the second quarter alone.

A Difficult Year for Lennar

The stepped-up accumulation coincides with a rough stretch for the homebuilder. Lennar shares started 2026 near $102 and now sit roughly 39% below their 52-week high of $133.76. Mortgage rates hovering near 7% have kept many prospective buyers away, while slower demand, lower selling prices, and heavier incentives have squeezed margins across the sector.

Why Berkshire Sees Value

Lennar currently trades below its book value of around $90 per share — the per-share measure of a company's assets minus its liabilities — making it a classic value proposition within a beaten-down group. The company's average selling price came in near $372,000 per home last quarter.

Third-quarter results, however, underscored the pressure on the business. Net income dropped to $284 million, or $1.19 per share, from $591 million a year earlier, while revenue fell 9% to $8.05 billion. Deliveries slipped 3% to 20,840 homes and new orders declined 9%.

Lennar also trimmed its full-year delivery forecast to 80,000–81,000 homes, down from an earlier range of 82,000–83,000, and home-sales gross margin slid to 15.8% from 17.5%.

There are signs of operational efficiency buried in the numbers. Construction costs per square foot fell 6% year over year, and build times hit a record 116 days. Lennar also keeps its land exposure light, owning less than 2.5% of its roughly 488,000 controlled homesites, with an arrangement with Millrose Properties helping fund land purchases without tying up as much of the company's own cash.

What Comes Next

Analysts expect Lennar's fourth-quarter earnings, due Dec. 15, to fall 29% year over year to $1.45 per share, while full-year earnings per share are projected to drop 40% to $4.85. In the run-up to that report, the accelerated disclosure schedule means any adjustment Berkshire makes to the stake will be public almost immediately rather than surfacing months later.

Wall Street isn't rushing to defend the stock despite Berkshire's confidence. Bank of America kept its "Underperform" rating and cut its price target to $70 from $77. Wells Fargo trimmed its target to $80 from $85 while maintaining an "Equal-Weight" rating, and Truist lowered its target to $80 from $90 under a "Hold" rating.

The stock now carries a consensus "Moderate Sell" rating, with an average analyst price target of $78.93 implying about 3% downside from current levels.

Berkshire's buying is likely being driven by investment manager Ted Weschler, who oversees a slice of the firm's $350 billion equity portfolio. The company already owns Taylor Morrison and Clayton Homes, giving it deep exposure to housing.

Lennar remains controlled by the Miller family through super-voting shares, a structure that would complicate any future takeover talk.

This article originally appeared on CoinCentral.