1. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 61
Number of Years of Consistent Dividend Growth: 59
Dividend Yield: 1.6%
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is an American retailer providing home improvement products through its retail stores in the US and Canada. The company ranks 1st on our list of the best stock to buy with 50+ years of dividend increases.
This May, Morgan Stanley raised its price targets on Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) shares to $230 with an Overweight rating. Analyst Simeon Gutman commented that the company is performing well above its strong market case, leading to him raising estimates in light of the company’s quarterly report as well.
In the fiscal first quarter of 2022, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) had an EPS of $3.21, beating estimates by $0.62. The company’s revenue was $24.42 billion, up 24.13% year over year and beating estimates by $667.62 million. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) has gained 14.02% in the past 6 months and 21.14% year to date.
By the end of the first quarter of 2021, 61 hedge funds out of the 866 tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) worth roughly $5.17 billion. This is compared to 71 hedge funds in the previous quarter with a total stake value of about $5.19 billion.
Pershing Square, an investment management firm, mentioned Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) in its fourth-quarter 2020 investor letter. Here‘s what the fund said:
“Lowe’s is a high-quality business with significant long-term earnings growth potential. We initiated our investment in the company in April 2018 largely because we believed that the hiring of a new high-caliber management team could dramatically improve the business and close the performance gap to its closest competitor, Home Depot. Marvin Ellison became CEO in July 2018, and immediately began working on a multi-year transformation plan to bolster Lowe’s retail fundamentals, reduce structural costs, expand distribution capabilities, and modernize systems and the company’s online capabilities.
In 2020, Lowe’s experienced unprecedented demand driven by consumers nesting at home, higher home asset utilization and a reallocation of discretionary spend. Lowe’s earlier decision to modernize the company’s online offering allowed it to meet consumers’ surging demand. Further, its commitment to improve the company’s retail fundamentals allowed Lowe’s to showcase its enhanced merchandising, greater in-stock-levels, and excellent customer service. In the fourth quarter, the company completed 95% of its store layout resets which include a more intuitive shopping experience complete with a more Pro-centric layout (by “Pro” we refer to the professional tradesmen that perform repair and maintenance, remodeling and construction services). The company is also rolling out a new Pro CRM tool, which should improve Lowe’s Pro market share…” (Click here to view the full text)
You can also take a peek at 10 Extreme Dividend Stocks with Huge Upside and 30 Dividend Kings of 2021 (Part I).
