Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 4,332 Shares of Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its stake in shares of Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 47.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,894 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 4,332 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Lennox International were worth $2,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LII. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Lennox International by 892.2% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,270 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Lennox International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,164,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lennox International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,661,000. DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Lennox International by 94.4% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 15,814 shares of the construction company's stock worth $9,635,000 after buying an additional 7,679 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Lennox International by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 210 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $568.05, for a total transaction of $289,137.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $898,655.10. This trade represents a 24.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LII shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Lennox International from $600.00 to $668.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $585.00 to $450.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Lennox International from $702.00 to $696.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. 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, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Lennox International from $580.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $604.67.

Lennox International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LII opened at $619.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Lennox International, Inc. has a 1 year low of $500.10 and a 1 year high of $682.50. The company's 50-day moving average is $577.60 and its 200 day moving average is $583.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.13.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.25 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Lennox International had a net margin of 14.96% and a return on equity of 106.05%. The business's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lennox International, Inc. will post 22.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennox International declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is a boost from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. Lennox International's payout ratio is currently 23.17%.

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.

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