Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stock Holdings in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its holdings in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,221 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,112 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Lennox International were worth $9,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $542,374,000 after acquiring an additional 317,937 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 500.0% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 94,086 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $57,326,000 after purchasing an additional 78,406 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Lennox International by 227.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 76,149 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $46,398,000 after purchasing an additional 52,888 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Lennox International by 247.1% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 26,620 shares of the construction company's stock worth $16,220,000 after buying an additional 18,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its position in Lennox International by 469.6% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 21,053 shares of the construction company's stock worth $12,895,000 after buying an additional 17,357 shares during the period. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LII. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Lennox International from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Lennox International from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. 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 reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $608.00 to $600.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $583.71.

Lennox International Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of LII traded down $4.82 on Friday, hitting $564.68. 901,766 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 361,377. Lennox International Inc. has a 1 year low of $483.42 and a 1 year high of $682.50. The stock's 50 day moving average is $560.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $600.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

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, beating 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 company 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. Lennox International's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lennox International Inc. will post 22.94 earnings per share for the current 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 $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. This is a positive change from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lennox International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.17%.

Lennox International announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $568.05, for a total transaction of $289,137.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $898,655.10. This trade represents a 24.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.