UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Lennox International (NYSE:LII) Stock Price

Key Points

• UBS Group has raised its price target for Lennox International (NYSE:LII) from $570.00 to $676.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.25% from its previous close.
• Lennox International showed positive financial performance, reporting $7.82 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $6.90, along with a 3.4% year-over-year increase in revenue.
• The company has initiated a share buyback program, authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.00 billion in outstanding shares, indicating that its board believes the stock may be undervalued.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by stock analysts at UBS Group from $570.00 to $676.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the construction company's stock. UBS Group's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.25% from the company's previous close.

LII has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $550.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $696.00 to $753.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $580.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $650.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Lennox International from $600.00 to $668.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $635.33.

Lennox International Stock Performance

NYSE:LII traded down $6.11 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $654.71. The company had a trading volume of 444,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,359. Lennox International has a 52 week low of $500.10 and a 52 week high of $689.44. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $581.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $584.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $23.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.13.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $7.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.90 by $0.92. Lennox International had a return on equity of 99.81% and a net margin of 15.41%. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.83 earnings per share. Lennox International's revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Lennox International will post 22.94 EPS for the current year.

Lennox International declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lennox International

In other Lennox International news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 509 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 1,582 shares in the company, valued at $898,655.10. This represents a 24.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel M. Sessa sold 2,782 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennox International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 69,429.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 356,688 shares of the construction company's stock worth $200,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Lennox International by 55.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 889,032 shares of the construction company's stock worth $542,374,000 after purchasing an additional 317,937 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 78,406 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 227.4% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 76,149 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $46,398,000 after acquiring an additional 52,888 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Lennox International by 118.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 92,618 shares of the construction company's stock worth $51,932,000 after buying an additional 50,188 shares during the period. 67.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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