Lennox International (NYSE:LII) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $653.89 and last traded at $653.11, with a volume of 130665 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $625.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LII. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lennox International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $583.92.

Lennox International Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $608.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.05. The company has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.07.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.95 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Lennox International had a return on equity of 148.52% and a net margin of 14.63%. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lennox International Inc. will post 21.1 EPS for the current year.

Lennox International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.84%.

Insider Transactions at Lennox International

In related news, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $625.49, for a total transaction of $125,098.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sherry Buck sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.47, for a total value of $291,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,279,549.71. This trade represents a 18.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,980 shares of company stock valued at $4,115,254 in the last quarter. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LII. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Lennox International by 38.8% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 68 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in Lennox International by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Lennox International by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 5,335 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,854,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 6.6% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 665 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Lennox International during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. 67.07% of the stock is owned by 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.