Searle & CO. Increases Stake in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Searle & CO. boosted its stake in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,232 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LOW. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 5,055 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $153,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 560,635 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $124,769,000 after purchasing an additional 14,134 shares during the period. Cannell & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Cannell & Co. now owns 371,534 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $82,685,000 after purchasing an additional 26,220 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Lowe’s Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,542 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Zelman & Associates reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Lowe’s Companies from $218.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.52.

Lowe’s Companies Price Performance

NYSE:LOW traded down $0.47 on Wednesday, hitting $227.52. 1,692,416 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,485,198. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $240.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $220.41. The company has a market cap of $130.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.13. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $181.85 and a 52 week high of $262.49.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The home improvement retailer reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.09. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.94% and a negative return on equity of 51.42%. The business had revenue of $18.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lowe’s Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lowe’s Companies’s payout ratio is currently 33.43%.

About Lowe’s Companies

Lowe's Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States. The company offers a line of products for construction, maintenance, repair, remodeling, and decorating. It also provides home improvement products, such as appliances, seasonal and outdoor living, lawn and garden, lumber, kitchens and bath, tools, paint, millwork, hardware, flooring, rough plumbing, building materials, décor, and electrical.