Macnealy Hoover Investment Management Inc. Cuts Position in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Macnealy Hoover Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,775 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Macnealy Hoover Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $1,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,177 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. increased its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. now owns 13,960 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new position in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter worth $4,489,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter worth $2,003,000. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 10,262,823 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $729,892,000 after buying an additional 349,148 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.65% of the company’s stock.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) opened at 74.12 on Friday. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.87 and a 12-month high of $86.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $76.56 and a 200 day moving average of $79.46. The firm has a market cap of $62.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.24 and a beta of 1.08. Lowe’s Companies also was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 23,265 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 109% compared to the typical volume of 11,139 call options.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $16.99 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 56.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post $4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 26th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 24th. This is a positive change from Lowe’s Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Lowe’s Companies’s payout ratio is 51.57%.

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LOW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) dropped their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $89.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 24th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research note on Friday, May 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research note on Monday, May 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.63.

In other Lowe’s Companies news, insider Richard D. Maltsbarger sold 11,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $936,094.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,024,823.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.