Short Interest in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Declines By 19.5%

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decline of 19.5% from the November 30th total of 1,330,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 371,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In related news, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.97, for a total transaction of $199,215.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,035 shares in the company, valued at $1,247,393.95. The trade was a 13.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Todd J. Teske sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $675.52, for a total transaction of $337,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,911 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,038.72. This trade represents a 5.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,106 shares of company stock worth $1,353,233 over the last 90 days. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennox International

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Lennox International in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lennox International in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 47.9% in the third 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 last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 388.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 88 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Lennox International during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LII shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Barclays upped their target price on Lennox International from $624.00 to $674.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Northcoast Research began 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $579.38.

Lennox International Stock Performance

LII traded down $6.04 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $613.99. The company had a trading volume of 332,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 300,731. The company has a market cap of $21.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $633.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $593.17. Lennox International has a 1 year low of $412.09 and a 1 year high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.95 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Lennox International had a return on equity of 148.52% and a net margin of 14.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lennox International will post 21.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.