Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Shares Sold by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 58.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,122 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 31,241 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.06% of Lennox International worth $13,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 98 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 117 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 853 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 799 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Lennox International

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $568.05, for a total transaction of $289,137.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,582 shares in the company, valued at $898,655.10. The trade was a 24.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LII has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lennox International from $585.00 to $450.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Lennox International from $702.00 to $696.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Lennox International from $455.00 to $549.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on Lennox International from $625.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Mizuho lowered Lennox International from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $675.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $583.71.

Lennox International Price Performance

LII stock traded down $7.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $567.25. The stock had a trading volume of 288,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 359,328. 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 twelve month low of $483.42 and a twelve month high of $682.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The company's 50-day moving average price is $561.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $602.46.

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

Lennox International declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lennox International's payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

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.