Erste Asset Management GmbH Invests $493,000 in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 800 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Lennox International by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 55,113 shares of the construction company's stock worth $33,304,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lennox International in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $491,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its position in Lennox International by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 83,311 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,570,000 after acquiring an additional 5,673 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in Lennox International by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 51,263 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $30,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lennox International by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,776 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp cut Lennox International from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Northcoast Research started coverage on Lennox International in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a "sell" rating and a $475.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $579.38.

Lennox International Stock Down 2.1 %

LII stock traded down $13.87 during trading on Thursday, hitting $651.66. 233,002 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 270,398. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $619.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $575.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Lennox International Inc. has a 1 year low of $406.40 and a 1 year high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.37 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lennox International Inc. will post 21.1 EPS for the current year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Lennox International's payout ratio is 21.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other news, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 2,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,247,393.95. The trade was a 13.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John D. Torres sold 581 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $620.98, for a total transaction of $360,789.38. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,668 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,898,734.64. This represents a 11.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,353,233. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company's stock.

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.