Hennessy Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,500 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $3,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lowe’s Companies by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,880 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 18,786.5% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 106,709 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $23,748,000 after buying an additional 106,144 shares during the last quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC now owns 215,442 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $47,947,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 824.6% in the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 15,339 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,414,000 after buying an additional 13,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 45,072 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $10,031,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. 74.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Lowe’s Companies from $255.00 to $250.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Lowe’s Companies from $243.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lowe’s Companies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lowe’s Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $251.33.

Lowe’s Companies Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:LOW traded down $1.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $218.61. 1,662,976 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,466,242. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.08. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $181.85 and a 52-week high of $262.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $225.69 and its 200-day moving average is $228.22.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 21st. The home improvement retailer reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $21.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.14 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a negative return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 8.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 12.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lowe’s Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 24th. Lowe’s Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.34%.

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.