Royal Bank of Canada Reduces Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,782,071 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 398,142 shares during the quarter. Home Depot makes up about 0.8% of Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $3,805,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 113,325 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $44,082,000 after buying an additional 13,984 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $56,917,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $20,616,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 294,223 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $114,450,000 after buying an additional 66,714 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on HD. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $445.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $435.00 to $418.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.32.

Home Depot Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of HD opened at $379.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $357.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $388.12. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $323.77 and a 1-year high of $439.37. The stock has a market cap of $376.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $2.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.66%.

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.