Mizuho Downgrades Lennox International (NYSE:LII) to Neutral

Mizuho lowered shares of Lennox International (NYSE:LII) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Mizuho currently has $625.00 price target on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $675.00.

LII has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $475.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp downgraded Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lennox International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $608.69.

Lennox International Stock Performance

Shares of LII opened at $591.45 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39. Lennox International has a 1 year low of $412.09 and a 1 year high of $682.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $639.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $607.56.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.12 by $1.48. Lennox International had a return on equity of 142.64% and a net margin of 15.11%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lennox International will post 23.08 EPS for the current year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Lennox International’s payout ratio is currently 20.41%.

Insider Activity at Lennox International

In other news, Director Todd J. Teske sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $675.52, for a total transaction of $337,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,038.72. This trade represents a 5.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $625.49, for a total value of $125,098.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,458.54. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,200 shares of company stock valued at $793,228. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lennox International

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LII. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 12,183 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Lennox International by 3.8% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 55,113 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,013 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Lennox International by 2.3% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 51,263 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Lennox International by 26.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,261 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $14,056,000 after acquiring an additional 4,927 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 469.6% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.07% of the company’s stock.

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.