Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) Stock Price

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Bank of America from $305.00 to $290.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the home improvement retailer’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 17.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lowe’s Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.13.

Lowe’s Companies Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of LOW stock opened at $247.16 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $252.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $258.86. The stock has a market cap of $139.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.11. Lowe’s Companies has a twelve month low of $211.80 and a twelve month high of $287.01.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The home improvement retailer reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.29 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.19% and a negative return on equity of 47.55%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lowe’s Companies will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lowe’s Companies

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,270,496 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $6,483,558,000 after buying an additional 259,766 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,013,655 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $6,774,948,000 after buying an additional 460,851 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,979,337 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,952,341,000 after buying an additional 245,876 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,842,954,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,074,391 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,745,960,000 after buying an additional 993,833 shares during the period. 74.06% of the stock is currently 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.