Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 692,134 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 8,371 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.08% of Lowe’s Companies worth $53,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LOW. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Lowe’s Companies by 5.1% in the first quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. now owns 53,675 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,413,000 after buying an additional 2,625 shares during the last quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the first quarter worth $765,000. Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the first quarter worth $789,000. Boltwood Capital Management increased its stake in Lowe’s Companies by 4.9% in the first quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 32,140 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,642,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tufton Capital Management bought a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the first quarter worth $423,000. Institutional investors own 74.65% of the company’s stock.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) traded up 1.28% during trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 811,957 shares. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.87 and a 52 week high of $86.25. The firm has a market cap of $63.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $76.67 and its 200-day moving average is $79.53. Lowe’s Companies also saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 23,265 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 109% compared to the average volume of 11,139 call options.
Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 24th. The home improvement retailer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $16.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.99 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a return on equity of 56.78% and a net margin of 4.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post $4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 26th were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 24th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is a positive change from Lowe’s Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Lowe’s Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.57%.
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Longbow Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research report on Monday. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 11th. BidaskClub raised shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Group LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a report on Friday, July 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.63.
In other news, insider Richard D. Maltsbarger sold 11,672 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $936,094.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,024,823.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.
About Lowe’s Companies
Lowe’s Companies, Inc (Lowe’s) is a home improvement retailer. The Company operates approximately 1,860 home improvement and hardware stores, representing approximately 200 million square feet of retail selling space. The Company operates approximately 1,800 stores located across over 50 states in the United States, including approximately 80 Orchard Supply Hardware (Orchard) stores in California and Oregon, as well as approximately 40 stores in Canada and over 10 stores in Mexico.
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