Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,041 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Home Depot accounts for about 0.5% of Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $2,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,737,490 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,918,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,402 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,347,396 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,730,889,000 after purchasing an additional 153,141 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,740,875,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 105,205.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,994,957 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,472,867,000 after purchasing an additional 10,984,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,729,735 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,211,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,660 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $311.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.35.

Home Depot Stock Down 1.4 %

HD stock opened at $337.93 on Tuesday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.26 and a 12-month high of $396.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The company has a market cap of $334.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $369.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.82.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 1,339.65%. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.60%.

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.