Strs Ohio Decreases Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Strs Ohio lessened its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 413,205 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 19,627 shares during the quarter. Home Depot comprises approximately 0.6% of Strs Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $143,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 88,444 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $26,725,000 after purchasing an additional 3,162 shares during the last quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors now owns 7,513 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Home Depot during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel grew its position in Home Depot by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel now owns 2,700 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Home Depot by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 8,153 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on HD shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Home Depot from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer downgraded Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised Home Depot from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $372.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.35.

Home Depot Stock Down 1.4 %

HD stock opened at $337.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $334.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.28 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $369.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $338.82. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $274.26 and a one year high of $396.87.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. 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. Home Depot’s payout ratio is presently 59.60%.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.