Mizuho Downgrades Lennox International (NYSE:LII) to Neutral

Mizuho cut shares of Lennox International (NYSE:LII) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. Mizuho currently has $625.00 target price on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $675.00.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on LII. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Lennox International in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $595.00 price target for the company. Finally, Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $475.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $602.57.

Lennox International Stock Up 0.3 %

LII stock opened at $606.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $641.14 and a 200-day moving average of $607.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39. Lennox International has a one year low of $412.09 and a one year high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.12 by $1.48. Lennox International had a return on equity of 142.64% and a net margin of 15.11%. As a group, analysts expect that Lennox International will post 23.08 EPS for the current year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Lennox International’s payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sherry Buck sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $660.74, for a total value of $330,370.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at $1,118,632.82. This trade represents a 22.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $625.49, for a total value of $125,098.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $904,458.54. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,200 shares of company stock valued at $793,228. Insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennox International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LII. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Lennox International in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lennox International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 23 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Lennox International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.07% of the company’s stock.

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.