Spire Wealth Management Sells 1,523 Shares of Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

Spire Wealth Management lessened its stake in Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW - Free Report) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,637 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock after selling 1,523 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management's holdings in Lowe's Companies were worth $3,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LOW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lowe's Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,842,954,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in Lowe's Companies by 350.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,373,460 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock valued at $585,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846,315 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Lowe's Companies by 26,796.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,657,332 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock valued at $386,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,170 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Lowe's Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $314,435,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Lowe's Companies by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,074,391 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock valued at $1,745,960,000 after purchasing an additional 993,833 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Juliette Williams Pryor sold 1,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.50, for a total value of $257,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,256,795. This trade represents a 3.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Lowe's Companies from $295.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. KeyCorp upgraded Lowe's Companies from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $266.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Lowe's Companies from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Lowe's Companies from $300.00 to $255.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Lowe's Companies from $244.00 to $242.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lowe's Companies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $271.12.

Lowe's Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LOW opened at $220.76 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $223.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.94. Lowe's Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $206.39 and a 52 week high of $287.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.92.

Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.04. Lowe's Companies had a negative return on equity of 49.12% and a net margin of 8.22%. The firm had revenue of $20.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.06 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lowe's Companies, Inc. will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Lowe's Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 23rd will be given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from Lowe's Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 23rd. Lowe's Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.11%.

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.

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