Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 34,900 Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 34,900 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $7,767,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 85.4% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 152 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Lowe’s Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. 74.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on LOW shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $203.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on Lowe’s Companies from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Lowe’s Companies from $258.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $252.33.

Lowe’s Companies Stock Down 1.4 %

LOW traded down $3.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $232.05. The stock had a trading volume of 2,117,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,537,523. The stock has a market cap of $132.77 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $238.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.93. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $181.85 and a 1 year high of $262.49.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last announced its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 51.42% and a net margin of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $18.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 12.21 EPS for the current year.

Lowe’s Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lowe’s Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.