Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) is up nearly 30% year-to-date, but a section of the smart money’s elite isn’t buying. Aggregate interest has fallen, and it’s worth wondering: will Lowe’s burn you?
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Now that that’s out of the way, it’s important to examine the latest info for Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW).
Hedge fund activity in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 48 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -13% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Greenhaven Associates, managed by Edgar Wachenheim, holds the largest position in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW). Greenhaven Associates has a $485.2 million position in the stock, comprising 12.9% of its 13F portfolio. On Greenhaven Associates’s heels is Lee Ainslie of Maverick Capital, with a $281.9 million position; the fund has 3.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management and Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC.
Since Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) has witnessed dropping sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there were a few funds that elected to cut their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. Intriguingly, Lou Simpson’s SQ Advisors cut the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling close to $69.9 million in stock, and Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $60.5 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 7 funds at the end of the second quarter.
How are insiders trading Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW). These stocks are Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH), Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDR), Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL), and The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD). All of these stocks are in the home improvement stores industry and their market caps match LOW’s market cap.