Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Lennox International (NYSE:LII)

Analysts at Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lennox International (NYSE:LII) in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “underweight” rating and a $595.00 price target on the construction company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 2.73% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on LII. KeyCorp lowered Lennox International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Lennox International from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lennox International from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Lennox International from $604.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Lennox International from $624.00 to $674.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $590.50.

Lennox International Stock Performance

Shares of LII stock opened at $611.72 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $633.99 and a 200-day moving average of $596.46. Lennox International has a one year low of $412.09 and a one year high of $682.50. The company has a market cap of $21.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.11.

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $6.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.95 by $0.73. Lennox International had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 148.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Lennox International will post 21.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lennox International

In other news, EVP John D. Torres sold 581 shares of Lennox International stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $620.98, for a total transaction of $360,789.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,734.64. This trade represents a 11.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Shane D. Wall sold 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.97, for a total transaction of $199,215.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,247,393.95. This trade represents a 13.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,353,233 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lennox International

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LII. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Lennox International during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lennox International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Lennox International by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Lennox International by 388.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 88 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Lennox International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. 67.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.