Short Interest in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Expands By 16.7%

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,330,000 shares, a growth of 16.7% from the November 15th total of 1,140,000 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 246,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Insider Activity at Lennox International

In other news, Director Todd J. Teske sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $5,344,038.72. This represents a 5.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of Lennox International 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 transaction, the director now owns 2,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,247,393.95. This represents a 13.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,106 shares of company stock worth $1,353,233 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennox International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,013 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lennox International in the second quarter worth approximately $491,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in Lennox International by 7.3% in the second quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 83,311 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,570,000 after purchasing an additional 5,673 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in Lennox International by 2.3% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 51,263 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $30,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Lennox International by 1,065.7% in 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 buying an additional 7,012 shares in the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LII has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. 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. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a "sell" rating and a $475.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised their price target 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. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Lennox International from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $579.38.

Lennox International Stock Performance

NYSE LII traded up $2.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $664.50. 261,288 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 270,565. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.08. Lennox International has a 12-month low of $412.09 and a 12-month high of $682.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $627.32 and a 200-day moving average of $583.09.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.37 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lennox International will post 21.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lennox International's payout ratio is presently 21.84%.

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.