Insider Selling: Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII) EVP Sells $1,864,051.28 in Stock

Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) EVP Daniel M. Sessa sold 2,782 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $670.04, for a total transaction of $1,864,051.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,574 shares in the company, valued at $21,155,842.96. This represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Lennox International Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE LII traded up $3.63 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $664.43. 262,665 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 409,522. 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 twelve month low of $500.10 and a twelve month high of $689.44. The company has a market cap of $23.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $578.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $584.13.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $7.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.90 by $0.92. Lennox International had a return on equity of 106.05% and a net margin of 14.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.83 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $1.30 dividend. 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 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Lennox International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.17%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Lennox International from $625.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lennox International from $550.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lennox International from $455.00 to $549.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $585.00 to $450.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Lennox International from $600.00 to $668.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Four 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 MarketBeat, Lennox International has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $626.50.

Institutional Trading of Lennox International

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Lennox International by 8.9% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 576 shares of the construction company's stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in Lennox International by 175.9% during the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 80 shares of the construction company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Lennox International by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 853 shares of the construction company's stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new position in Lennox International during the first quarter worth $35,000. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.