Lawrence Simkins, a director at Lowe’s Companies (LOW), recently bought 1,000 shares. The buy came to a total cost of $245,532, and is a new position for the director.
This also marks the first buy from company insiders over the past two years. Otherwise, there have been about a dozen insider sales, with a slight majority of them coming following the exercise of stock options. The largest sale came from the company CIO back in October, for about $7.1 million.
Overall, Lowe’s Companies insiders own about 0.1% of shares.
The home improvement retail chain is up about 13% over the past year, returning about half of the overall stock market. Shares have trended higher even as Lowe’s has shown a 10% drop in earnings growth and a 5% slide in revenues.
That slowdown has been typical across the industry as high interest rates and a slow home sales environment have weighed on home improvement plans.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here. While Lowe’s is fairly valued at about 20 times earnings, shares have also pulled back nearly 20% from their autumn highs, and could be poised for a rebound trend higher over the months ahead.
At current prices, Lowe’s also pays a 1.7% dividend.
For traders, the April $280 calls, last trading for about $2.85, could see mid-double-digit returns or better on a bounce in the months ahead. Traders may want to take quick profits, as shares may not move in-the-money.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.