Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 47 Shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Romano Brothers AND Company lowered its holdings in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,392 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $1,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOW. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 156.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 116,427 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $24,198,000 after purchasing an additional 70,983 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Lowe’s Companies in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its stake in Lowe’s Companies by 7.9% during the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies during the third quarter worth approximately $1,089,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 56.9% in the third quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 4,260 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,545 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.06% of the company’s stock.

Lowe’s Companies Price Performance

NYSE:LOW opened at $220.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $225.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.40. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $181.85 and a fifty-two week high of $262.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.08.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.14 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.46% and a negative return on equity of 48.52%. The business’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 12.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Lowe’s Companies Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lowe’s Companies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $255.00 to $250.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $251.33.

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.