Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) Shares Sold by John G Ullman & Associates Inc.

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,016 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $5,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Lowe’s Companies by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,205,491 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,147,603,000 after purchasing an additional 82,978 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 2,343,365 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $634,700,000 after acquiring an additional 36,054 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1,889.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,134,969 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $578,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,027,668 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,840,704 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $468,884,000 after acquiring an additional 493,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 6.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,617,849 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $356,671,000 after purchasing an additional 90,945 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Lowe’s Companies from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $290.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Lowe’s Companies from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.92.

Lowe’s Companies Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of LOW opened at $263.03 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $268.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.36. The stock has a market cap of $149.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.10. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.23 and a 1 year high of $287.01.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $23.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.93 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a negative return on equity of 47.55% and a net margin of 8.19%. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 11.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lowe’s Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a positive change from Lowe’s Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Lowe’s Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Lowe’s Companies news, CAO Dan Clayton Griggs, Jr. sold 6,769 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.82, for a total value of $1,684,262.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,334,678.06. This trade represents a 41.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Margrethe R. Vagell sold 5,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.45, for a total transaction of $1,555,408.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,214 shares in the company, valued at $3,586,940.30. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.