Nicholas Company Inc. Reduces Holdings in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Nicholas Company Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 67.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,861 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 20,359 shares during the period. Nicholas Company Inc.'s holdings in Lennox International were worth $6,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Huntington National Bank increased its position in Lennox International by 47.9% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 71 shares of the construction company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lennox International in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,673 shares of the construction company's stock worth $9,258,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lennox International during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Lennox International by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,261 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $14,056,000 after buying an additional 4,927 shares during the period. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on LII. UBS Group raised their target price on Lennox International from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised Lennox International from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $665.00 to $702.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $580.00 target price (down previously from $630.00) on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of Lennox International in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a "sell" rating and a $475.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $614.62.

Lennox International Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of LII traded down $13.25 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $578.18. The company had a trading volume of 647,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 311,220. Lennox International Inc. has a 1 year low of $445.63 and a 1 year high of $682.50. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $611.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $615.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.13.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $1.48. Lennox International had a net margin of 15.11% and a return on equity of 126.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lennox International Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lennox International

In related news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 194 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.20, for a total transaction of $124,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,282 shares in the company, valued at $825,864.40. The trade was a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 10.40% 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.