Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) Price Target Raised to $277.00

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $245.00 to $277.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the home improvement retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on LOW. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $266.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial set a $264.00 target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $253.00 to $242.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Lowe’s Companies to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $266.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lowe’s Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Lowe’s Companies Stock Up 3.1%

LOW opened at $263.5780 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $147.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.89. Lowe’s Companies has a 52-week low of $206.38 and a 52-week high of $287.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.20.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $23.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.99 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.20% and a negative return on equity of 52.02%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.10 earnings per share. Lowe’s Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 12.200-12.450 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Lowe’s Companies will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Lowe’s Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 23rd were issued a $1.20 dividend. This is a boost from Lowe’s Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 23rd. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Lowe’s Companies’s payout ratio is 39.77%.

Insider Activity at Lowe’s Companies

In related news, CEO Marvin R. Ellison sold 40,000 shares of Lowe’s Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total value of $10,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 249,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,772,256.30. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Juliette Williams Pryor sold 1,130 shares of Lowe’s Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.50, for a total transaction of $257,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,256,795. This trade represents a 3.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lowe’s Companies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lowe’s Companies by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,976,355 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $12,197,604,000 after purchasing an additional 366,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Lowe’s Companies by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,911,775 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,527,176,000 after purchasing an additional 207,826 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lowe’s Companies by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,351,783 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,732,049,000 after purchasing an additional 42,190 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lowe’s Companies in the second quarter worth $1,773,624,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 993,833 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.06% of the company’s stock.

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.