Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 1,112 Shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its position in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,221 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,112 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Lennox International were worth $9,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LII. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lennox International by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 889,032 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $542,374,000 after buying an additional 317,937 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 500.0% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 94,086 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $57,326,000 after acquiring an additional 78,406 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 52,888 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Lennox International by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,430 shares of the construction company's stock worth $25,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lennox International by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 38,259 shares of the construction company's stock worth $23,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.07% of the company's stock.

Lennox International Trading Down 1.8%

Lennox International stock traded down $10.45 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $568.77. The stock had a trading volume of 365,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 360,699. Lennox International Inc. has a twelve month low of $483.42 and a twelve month high of $682.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $20.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $561.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $601.47.

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

Lennox International announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Lennox International's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $568.05, for a total value of $289,137.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $898,655.10. This represents a 24.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LII has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Lennox International from $585.00 to $450.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Lennox International from $455.00 to $549.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on Lennox International from $702.00 to $696.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Lennox International in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of Lennox International from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock 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 assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $583.71.

Lennox International 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.