Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decrease of 19.5% from the November 30th total of 1,330,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 371,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennox International

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

Lennox International Stock Performance

NYSE:LII traded down $4.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $609.30. 191,271 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 300,296. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Lennox International has a 52-week low of $412.09 and a 52-week high of $682.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $633.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $593.69.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.95 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Lennox International had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 148.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lennox International will post 21.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LII. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp cut Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Northcoast Research started coverage on Lennox International in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. Two 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $579.38.

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.