Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) Short Interest Down 23.6% in August

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) saw a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,010,000 shares, a decline of 23.6% from the August 15th total of 9,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Lowe’s Companies

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LOW. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Lowe’s Companies by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Lowe’s Companies by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Lowe’s Companies by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 6,911 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,538,000 after acquiring an additional 2,011 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,949 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LOW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on Lowe’s Companies from $280.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Gordon Haskett reduced their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $245.00 to $240.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Lowe’s Companies from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. DA Davidson cut their price target on Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $265.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $252.83.

Lowe’s Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Lowe’s Companies stock traded up $3.36 on Friday, hitting $255.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,118,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,499,498. The company has a market capitalization of $144.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.10. Lowe’s Companies has a 52-week low of $181.85 and a 52-week high of $262.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $240.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.78.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.14. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.25% and a negative return on equity of 47.07%. The business had revenue of $23.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Lowe’s Companies will post 11.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Lowe’s Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be given a $1.15 dividend. This is an increase from Lowe’s Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 23rd. Lowe’s Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.95%.

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.