Plato Investment Management Ltd Sells 639 Shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lowered its position in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,454 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 639 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Lennox International were worth $878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LII. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Lennox International in the first quarter worth approximately $15,416,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lennox International in the second quarter worth approximately $11,115,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 7.3% in the second quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 83,311 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,570,000 after purchasing an additional 5,673 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 3.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 99,181 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 3.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,013 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.97, for a total value of $199,215.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,247,393.95. This trade represents a 13.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Kosel sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $625.49, for a total value of $125,098.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $904,458.54. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,414 shares of company stock valued at $7,248,206 over the last ninety days. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lennox International Stock Performance

NYSE:LII opened at $617.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $603.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $557.96. Lennox International Inc. has a 1 year low of $397.34 and a 1 year high of $653.83. The company has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Lennox International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LII. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of Lennox International in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Lennox International from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $583.92.

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.