Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys 6,373 Shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Free Report) by 70,811.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,382 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,373 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Lennox International were worth $3,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LII. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Lennox International by 50.8% in 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 during the period. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Lennox International by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 117 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in Lennox International by 1,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 210 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital purchased a new position in Lennox International during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in Lennox International by 360.8% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 341 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LII has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho lowered Lennox International from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $675.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on Lennox International from $702.00 to $696.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Lennox International from $625.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Lennox International in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Lennox International from $608.00 to $600.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $583.71.

Lennox International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LII traded down $5.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $564.78. 89,776 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 357,359. The company has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The business's fifty day moving average price is $562.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $603.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Lennox International Inc. has a 12-month low of $483.42 and a 12-month high of $682.50.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.25 by $0.12. The business 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%. Lennox International's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lennox International Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Lennox International's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 194 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.20, for a total value of $124,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at $825,864.40. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 9.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.