Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC Raises Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC raised its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 46.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,531 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of HD. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the first quarter worth about $27,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Keener Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 92 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $323.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of HD stock opened at $334.83 on Wednesday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.26 and a fifty-two week high of $396.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $331.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $369.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.05.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.05. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $34.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Home Depot’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.60%.

Insider Transactions at Home Depot

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total value of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Profile

The Home Depot, Inc operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and internationally. It sells various building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, and décor products, as well as facilities maintenance, repair, and operations products. The company also offers installation services for flooring, water heaters, bath, garage doors, cabinets, cabinet makeovers, countertops, sheds, furnaces and central air systems, and windows.