700 Shares in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Purchased by Wynn Capital LLC

Wynn Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 700 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Home Depot by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,347,396 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,730,889,000 after purchasing an additional 153,141 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Home Depot by 12,647.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,569,482 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,930,104,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,791 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Home Depot by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,388 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Home Depot by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,418,400 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,032,904,000 after purchasing an additional 346,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,483,454 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $750,448,000 after acquiring an additional 17,224 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on HD shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Home Depot stock traded down $1.80 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $331.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,279,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,333,798. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.26 and a 52 week high of $396.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $365.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $340.46. The stock has a market cap of $328.24 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.98.

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, 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 analysts’ expectations of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 59.60%.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Company 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.