Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Increases Stake in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 247.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,620 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,950 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.07% of Lennox International worth $16,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Lennox International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $124,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Lennox International during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Lennox International by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 513 shares of the construction company's stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lennox International in the fourth quarter worth $567,000. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic grew its holdings in Lennox International by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 2,400 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LII. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $702.00 to $696.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho lowered shares of Lennox International from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $675.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $580.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Lennox International from $625.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $577.00.

Lennox International Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of LII stock traded up $15.58 on Thursday, hitting $583.55. 101,990 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 354,730. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $560.37 and a 200 day moving average of $604.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. Lennox International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $467.65 and a fifty-two week high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.25 by $0.12. Lennox International had a net margin of 15.11% and a return on equity of 126.79%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.47 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Lennox International Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Lennox International's payout ratio is 20.50%.

Insider Activity at Lennox International

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 194 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.20, for a total value of $124,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $825,864.40. This trade represents a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.