Lennox International (NYSE:LII) Lowered to Neutral Rating by Mizuho

Mizuho cut shares of Lennox International (NYSE:LII) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $625.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $675.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Lennox International from $624.00 to $674.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of 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 upped their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. 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 on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Lennox International in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $595.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennox International has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $602.57.

Lennox International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LII opened at $606.30 on Thursday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $641.14 and a 200 day moving average of $607.17. The firm has a market cap of $21.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. Lennox International has a one year low of $412.09 and a one year high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $1.48. Lennox International had a net margin of 15.11% and a return on equity of 142.64%. As a group, research analysts predict that Lennox International will post 23.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.41%.

Insider Activity at Lennox International

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $625.49, for a total transaction of $125,098.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,458.54. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sherry Buck sold 500 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $660.74, for a total transaction of $330,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,118,632.82. This represents a 22.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,200 shares of company stock worth $793,228. Corporate 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 made changes to their positions in LII. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Lennox International by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Lennox International by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. lifted its position in Lennox International by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 4,628 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,820,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Lennox International during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lennox International in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.07% 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.