Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases 1,158 Shares of Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,815 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Lennox International worth $35,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LII. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Lennox International by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 889,032 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $542,374,000 after acquiring an additional 317,937 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lennox International by 69,429.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 356,688 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $200,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,175 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Lennox International by 500.0% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 94,086 shares of the construction company's stock worth $57,326,000 after purchasing an additional 78,406 shares in the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Lennox International by 22.4% in the first quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 91,338 shares of the construction company's stock worth $51,225,000 after purchasing an additional 16,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Lennox International by 227.4% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 76,149 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $46,398,000 after buying an additional 52,888 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LII shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lennox International from $455.00 to $549.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Lennox International from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Lennox International from $585.00 to $450.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Lennox International from $625.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Lennox International from $702.00 to $696.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $586.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 1,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $898,655.10. This represents a 24.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.73% of the company's stock.

Lennox International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LII traded up $2.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $604.22. 155,641 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 364,284. The company has a market capitalization of $21.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.43. Lennox International, Inc. has a 1-year low of $500.10 and a 1-year high of $682.50. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $567.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $585.18.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last posted 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 14.96% and a return on equity of 106.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.47 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Lennox International, Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Lennox International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.17%.

Lennox International declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.