PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 4,188 Shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 401,762 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 4,188 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Lowe’s Companies were worth $108,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Lowe’s Companies by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,205,491 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,147,603,000 after acquiring an additional 82,978 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Lowe’s Companies by 1,889.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,134,969 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $578,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,027,668 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Lowe’s Companies by 36.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,840,704 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $468,884,000 after acquiring an additional 493,180 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Lowe’s Companies by 6.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,617,849 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $356,671,000 after acquiring an additional 90,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Lowe’s Companies by 11.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,499,015 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $330,473,000 after acquiring an additional 149,649 shares during the last quarter. 74.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on LOW. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lowe’s Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Lowe’s Companies in a research report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lowe’s Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.84.

Lowe’s Companies Stock Performance

NYSE LOW opened at $259.23 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $267.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.23. The stock has a market cap of $147.06 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.23 and a fifty-two week high of $287.01.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $23.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lowe’s Companies, Inc. will post 11.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lowe’s Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were paid a $1.15 dividend. This is a boost from Lowe’s Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Lowe’s Companies’s payout ratio is currently 38.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Margrethe R. Vagell sold 5,730 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,586,940.30. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Dan Clayton Griggs, Jr. sold 6,769 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 9,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,334,678.06. This represents a 41.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.