Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) Stock Holdings Lessened by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) by 57.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,750 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,782 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Lennox International were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LII. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its position in Lennox International by 469.6% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 21,053 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,895,000 after purchasing an additional 17,357 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lennox International by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 571,095 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $345,645,000 after purchasing an additional 12,183 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in Lennox International by 1,065.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,670 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,635,000 after purchasing an additional 7,012 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Lennox International by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,261 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $14,056,000 after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its position in Lennox International by 386.0% in the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 5,540 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,376,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Lennox International from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $665.00 to $702.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho downgraded shares of Lennox International from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $675.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $536.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $617.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $475.00 price target on the stock. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Lennox International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $608.85.

Lennox International Stock Performance

Shares of LII opened at $601.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $620.66 and its 200-day moving average is $614.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Lennox International Inc. has a 12-month low of $445.63 and a 12-month high of $682.50.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $1.48. Lennox International had a net margin of 15.11% and a return on equity of 126.79%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lennox International Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Insider Transactions at Lennox International

In other news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 194 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.20, for a total value of $124,974.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $825,864.40. This trade represents a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

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.