Barclays Upgrades Lennox International (NYSE:LII) to “Overweight”

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) was upgraded by research analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $702.00 target price on the construction company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $665.00. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.38% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on LII. Mizuho lowered shares of Lennox International from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $675.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $580.00 target price (down previously from $630.00) on shares of Lennox International in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Lennox International from $617.00 to $642.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Lennox International from $536.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $595.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $608.85.

Lennox International Price Performance

Lennox International stock opened at $603.18 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $621.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $614.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market cap of $21.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Lennox International has a 52 week low of $445.63 and a 52 week high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $1.48. Lennox International had a net margin of 15.11% and a return on equity of 126.79%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lennox International will post 22.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.20, for a total transaction of $124,974.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,864.40. This trade represents a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lennox International

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LII. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 889,032 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $542,374,000 after buying an additional 317,937 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Lennox International by 500.0% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 94,086 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $57,326,000 after purchasing an additional 78,406 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 227.4% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 76,149 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $46,398,000 after purchasing an additional 52,888 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 247.1% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 26,620 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,220,000 after purchasing an additional 18,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its position in shares of Lennox International by 469.6% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 21,053 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,895,000 after buying an additional 17,357 shares during the period. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.