Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Short Interest Update

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decline 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 currently 2.9 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Lennox International news, Director Sherry Buck sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $660.74, for a total transaction of $330,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,118,632.82. This represents a 22.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Torres sold 581 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $620.98, for a total value of $360,789.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,734.64. This represents a 11.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,353,233. Insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lennox International

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LII. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $624.00 to $674.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp cut Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on Lennox International in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $475.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lennox International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $579.38.

Lennox International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LII traded down $9.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $620.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 216,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 300,605. The company has a 50-day moving average of $633.77 and a 200-day moving average of $592.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $22.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. Lennox International has a 12 month low of $412.09 and a 12 month high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.95 by $0.73. Lennox International had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 148.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lennox International will post 21.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Lennox International’s payout ratio is currently 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.