Van ECK Associates Corp Invests $3.43 Million in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,674 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,434,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Lennox International by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 67,094 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Lennox International by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 44,049 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $19,711,000 after buying an additional 11,077 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lennox International in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,067,000. DNB Asset Management AS acquired a new stake in Lennox International during the 4th quarter worth $5,393,000. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its position in Lennox International by 1.8% in the third quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 10,311 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,861,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Lennox International from $450.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lennox International from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Lennox International from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Lennox International from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $490.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $482.31.

Insider Activity at Lennox International

In related news, EVP Gary S. Bedard sold 1,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.59, for a total value of $875,667.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,692,019.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Gary S. Bedard sold 1,849 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.59, for a total value of $875,667.91. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,692,019.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph William Reitmeier sold 1,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.48, for a total value of $909,956.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,533 shares in the company, valued at $11,566,818.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 10.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lennox International Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Lennox International stock opened at $470.08 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $473.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $440.13. Lennox International Inc. has a 12-month low of $271.51 and a 12-month high of $501.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.13. The stock has a market cap of $16.74 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.03.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.17 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Lennox International had a return on equity of 303.36% and a net margin of 12.38%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lennox International Inc. will post 19.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.49%.

Lennox International Company 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.