GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Position in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 69,429.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 356,688 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 356,175 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned approximately 1.00% of Lennox International worth $200,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Lennox International by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 98 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in Lennox International by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 117 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Lennox International by 1,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 210 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Vicus Capital acquired a new stake in Lennox International in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in Lennox International by 23.5% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 421 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $568.05, for a total value of $289,137.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $898,655.10. The trade was a 24.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LII shares. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Lennox International from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $625.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $455.00 to $549.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $608.00 to $600.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $580.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $583.71.

Lennox International Price Performance

Shares of LII stock traded down $11.38 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $550.13. 388,319 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 362,463. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Lennox International Inc. has a 1-year low of $487.53 and a 1-year high of $682.50. The firm has a market cap of $19.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $559.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $599.04.

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

Lennox International announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This is an increase from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Lennox International's payout ratio is 23.17%.

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.