Short Interest in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Rises By 35.5%

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a growth of 35.5% from the December 15th total of 1,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 377,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 4.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on LII shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp downgraded Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lennox International from $624.00 to $674.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $590.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other Lennox International news, Director Todd J. Teske sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $675.52, for a total transaction of $337,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,038.72. The trade was a 5.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.97, for a total transaction of $199,215.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,247,393.95. This trade represents a 13.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,106 shares of company stock worth $1,353,233 in the last 90 days. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LII. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Lennox International during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Lennox International in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Lennox International by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Lennox International by 388.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 88 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Lennox International during the 3rd quarter worth $77,000. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lennox International Stock Performance

NYSE LII traded up $12.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $643.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 285,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,244. The stock has a market cap of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $635.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $599.58. Lennox International has a 52 week low of $412.09 and a 52 week high of $682.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.95 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Lennox International had a return on equity of 148.52% and a net margin of 14.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.37 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Lennox International will post 21.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.84%.

About Lennox International

Lennox International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a range of products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The Home Comfort Solutions segment provides furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, packaged heating and cooling systems, indoor air quality equipment, comfort control products, and replacement parts and supplies; residential heating, ventilation, cooling equipment, and air conditioning; and evaporator coils and unit heaters under Lennox, Dave Lennox Signature Collection, Armstrong Air, Ducane, AirEase, Concord, MagicPak, Advanced Distributor Products, Allied, Elite Series, Merit Series, Comfort Sync, Healthy Climate, iComfort, ComfortSense, and Lennox Stores name.