First Heartland Consultants Inc. Sells 138 Shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

First Heartland Consultants Inc. lowered its position in shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 7.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,617 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 138 shares during the quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc.’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crew Capital Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 1.0% during the third quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 3,873 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 2.8% during the third quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,375 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in shares of Lowe’s Companies by 2.4% during the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,599 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its position in Lowe’s Companies by 0.5% during the third quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 7,460 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Lowe’s Companies by 2.2% during the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,894 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LOW. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $245.00 to $238.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $275.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.84.

Insider Activity at Lowe’s Companies

In other Lowe’s Companies news, EVP Margrethe R. Vagell sold 5,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.45, for a total value of $1,555,408.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,586,940.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lowe’s Companies news, EVP Margrethe R. Vagell sold 5,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.45, for a total value of $1,555,408.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,586,940.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Dan Clayton Griggs, Jr. sold 6,769 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.82, for a total transaction 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 $2,334,678.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lowe’s Companies Stock Performance

Shares of LOW opened at $269.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $265.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $242.57. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $192.10 and a fifty-two week high of $287.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.08 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $23.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.56 earnings per share. Lowe’s Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 11.92 EPS for the current year.

Lowe’s Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Lowe’s Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.14%.

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.