Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Receives $583.71 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $583.71.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lennox International from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Lennox International from $585.00 to $450.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho cut Lennox International from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $675.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Lennox International from $608.00 to $600.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Lennox International from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 1,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $898,655.10. This trade represents a 24.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.73% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennox International

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Lennox International by 69,429.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 356,688 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $200,041,000 after buying an additional 356,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lennox International by 55.7% during the 4th 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 raised 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 purchasing an additional 78,406 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position 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 worth $46,398,000 after purchasing an additional 52,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lennox International by 118.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 92,618 shares of the construction company's stock worth $51,932,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.07% of the company's stock.

Lennox International Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of Lennox International stock traded up $11.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $579.13. 468,216 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 360,506. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $20.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $561.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $601.86. Lennox International has a 52-week low of $483.42 and a 52-week high of $682.50.

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. Lennox International had a return on equity of 126.79% and a net margin of 15.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.47 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Lennox International will post 22.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be given 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 yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Lennox International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.50%.

Lennox International declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.