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

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a growth of 35.5% from the December 15th total of 1,070,000 shares. Currently, 4.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 377,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Todd J. Teske sold 500 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $675.52, for a total transaction of $337,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,344,038.72. This trade represents a 5.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,458.54. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,106 shares of company stock worth $1,353,233. 10.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennox International during the 4th quarter valued at about $567,000. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Lennox International by 27.0% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 3,960 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,393,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Lennox International by 3.8% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 55,113 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Lennox International by 2.3% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 51,263 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Lennox International by 1,065.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,670 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,635,000 after purchasing an additional 7,012 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.07% of the company’s stock.

Lennox International Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of LII traded up $12.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $643.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 285,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,244. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $22.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $635.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $599.58. Lennox International has a 1-year low of $412.09 and a 1-year high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Lennox International will post 21.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Lennox International’s payout ratio is 21.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Lennox International in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $595.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on Lennox International from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $590.50.

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.