MetLife Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,035 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.05% of Lennox International worth $10,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Lennox International in the first quarter worth $15,416,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Lennox International in the 2nd quarter worth $11,115,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its position 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 valued at $44,570,000 after acquiring an additional 5,673 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Lennox International by 26.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 3.1% during 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 period. Institutional investors own 67.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other Lennox International news, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of Lennox International 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 sale, the director now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,247,393.95. This trade represents a 13.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John D. Torres sold 581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $620.98, for a total value of $360,789.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,898,734.64. This represents a 11.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,606 shares of company stock worth $1,022,863. 10.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on LII shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Lennox International from $648.00 to $656.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on Lennox International from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of Lennox International in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $475.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $570.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued 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 $575.54.

Lennox International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LII opened at $660.04 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $614.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $569.42. Lennox International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $397.34 and a fifty-two week high of $682.50. The company has a market capitalization of $23.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.07.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Lennox International Inc. will post 21.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lennox International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. 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 21.84%.

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.