Brokerages Set Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) Target Price at $252.52

Shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $252.52.

LOW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Lowe’s Companies from an “average” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Zelman & Associates restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $203.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lowe’s Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LOW. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Lowe’s Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 74.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lowe’s Companies Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE LOW opened at $229.96 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.50. Lowe’s Companies has a 52 week low of $181.85 and a 52 week high of $262.49. The stock has a market cap of $131.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.13.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The home improvement retailer reported $1.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.47 billion. Lowe’s Companies had a net margin of 8.94% and a negative return on equity of 51.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Lowe’s Companies will post 12.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lowe’s Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Lowe’s Companies’s payout ratio is 33.43%.

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.