Robert W. Baird Lowers Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) Price Target to $285.00

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $295.00 to $285.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the home improvement retailer’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective points to a potential upside of 28.91% from the stock’s current price.

LOW has been the subject of several other research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lowe’s Companies to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $300.00 to $263.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $266.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $271.52.

Lowe’s Companies Stock Performance

Shares of LOW opened at $221.08 on Thursday. Lowe’s Companies has a fifty-two week low of $206.39 and a fifty-two week high of $287.01. The company has a market capitalization of $123.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.68.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.04. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.19% and a negative return on equity of 47.55%. The business had revenue of $20.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.06 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lowe’s Companies will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 3,014 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 3,740 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 90.5% during the 4th quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,349 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 11,531 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,984,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC raised its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 828 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 74.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.