The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Holdings Raised by Sterling Financial Planning Inc.

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,409 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 102 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 10.0% during 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 holdings in shares of 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 valued at $3,730,889,000 after purchasing an additional 153,141 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at $3,740,875,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 105,205.6% during 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 holdings in shares of Home Depot by 14.5% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $335.36 on Friday. 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 simple moving average is $367.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.21. The Home Depot, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.26 and a twelve month high of $396.87. The firm has a market cap of $332.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.60%.

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.