First Merchants Corp Trims Stake in The Home Depot, Inc. $HD

First Merchants Corp reduced its position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,466 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 730 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $9,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HD. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 99,400.7% in the 1st quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 18,975,772 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $6,954,431,000 after purchasing an additional 18,956,701 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,076,592,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 16,746.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,537,880 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,663,768,000 after acquiring an additional 4,510,944 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Home Depot by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,253,292 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,391,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $418,486,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Home Depot news, EVP Angie Brown sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.07, for a total transaction of $404,070.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,416.59. This represents a 20.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 32,897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.22, for a total value of $13,067,346.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 122,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,658.50. This trade represents a 21.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,835 shares of company stock worth $19,623,432 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Home Depot from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Home Depot from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Home Depot from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Home Depot from $460.00 to $452.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.42.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD opened at $383.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $382.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $403.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $376.89. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $326.31 and a 1-year high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.69 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $45.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.43 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 193.99% and a net margin of 8.86%.The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.60 EPS. Home Depot has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.940-14.940 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

About Home Depot

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.