Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Short Interest Down 19.5% in December

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in 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 presently 2.9 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other news, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.97, for a total transaction of $199,215.25. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $625.49, for a total value of $125,098.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $904,458.54. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,353,233 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennox International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Lennox International by 0.8% in the second quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 5,335 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,854,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co boosted its stake in Lennox International by 6.6% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 665 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Lennox International during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lennox International during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 67.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lennox International Stock Performance

Shares of LII stock traded down $9.61 on Friday, hitting $620.03. 216,125 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 300,605. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $633.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $592.75. Lennox International has a one year low of $412.09 and a one year high of $682.50.

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

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lennox International’s payout ratio is 21.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LII has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Lennox International from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Lennox International from $624.00 to $674.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $579.38.

Lennox International Company Profile

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.