Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII) Short Interest Up 28.1% in May

Lennox International, Inc. (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,050,000 shares, a growth of 28.1% from the May 15th total of 1,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 435,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 6.4% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of Lennox International 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,582 shares in the company, valued at $898,655.10. The trade was a 24.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lennox International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennox International by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 889,032 shares of the construction company's stock worth $542,374,000 after buying an additional 317,937 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Lennox International by 69,429.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 356,688 shares of the construction company's stock worth $200,041,000 after buying an additional 356,175 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Lennox International by 33.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 189,571 shares of the construction company's stock worth $103,661,000 after buying an additional 47,170 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in 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. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Lennox International by 118.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 92,618 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,932,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares in the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lennox International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LII traded up $2.51 on Friday, reaching $550.43. 746,462 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 365,661. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Lennox International has a 1-year low of $500.10 and a 1-year high of $682.50. The firm has a market cap of $19.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $560.41 and a 200-day moving average of $590.77.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.25 by $0.12. Lennox International had a net margin of 14.96% and a return on equity of 106.05%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.47 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Lennox International will post 22.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Lennox International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This is a positive change from Lennox International's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Lennox International's payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LII. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Lennox International from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. 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 note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $580.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennox International currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $583.71.

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.