Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 178 Shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its holdings in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,554 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Lennox International were worth $1,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lennox International in the 1st quarter worth $269,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 403.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 151 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 9,076 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,436,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Lennox International by 165.0% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 21,200 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,362,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lennox International by 279.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,754 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,588,000 after purchasing an additional 18,972 shares during the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lennox International Stock Down 0.6 %

Lennox International stock opened at $569.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. Lennox International Inc. has a 52 week low of $334.53 and a 52 week high of $583.42. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $531.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $487.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.55 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Lennox International had a return on equity of 198.36% and a net margin of 12.85%. Lennox International’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lennox International Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Lennox International’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 1,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $573.79, for a total value of $1,000,689.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $944,458.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LII. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Lennox International from $505.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Barclays increased their price target on Lennox International from $517.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Lennox International from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Lennox International from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $550.00 to $570.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $543.62.

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.