Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW) Price Target Lowered to $240.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $250.00 to $240.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "hold" rating on the home improvement retailer's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price objective points to a potential upside of 6.40% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on LOW. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $253.00 target price (down previously from $269.00) on shares of Lowe's Companies in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Lowe's Companies from $270.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Lowe's Companies from $295.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Lowe's Companies from $300.00 to $263.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Lowe's Companies from $300.00 to $255.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $271.12.

Lowe's Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LOW traded up $0.64 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $225.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,127,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,521,457. The company has a 50-day moving average of $224.20 and a 200-day moving average of $243.15. Lowe's Companies has a 12 month low of $206.39 and a 12 month high of $287.01. The firm has a market cap of $126.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.00.

Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.04. Lowe's Companies had a net margin of 8.19% and a negative return on equity of 47.55%. The company had revenue of $20.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.06 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lowe's Companies will post 11.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lowe's Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOW. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Lowe's Companies by 119.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 31,965 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $7,889,000 after buying an additional 17,413 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in Lowe's Companies by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 10,635 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $2,625,000 after buying an additional 2,159 shares during the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP boosted its stake in Lowe's Companies by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 1,159 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Lowe's Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 66,073 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $16,307,000 after buying an additional 23,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lowe's Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,668 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $6,582,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 74.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lowe's Companies Company Profile

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.