Van ECK Associates Corp Has $25.18 Million Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 72,662 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $25,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 92 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new position in Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Home Depot in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Home Depot in the third quarter worth about $64,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on HD shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays raised shares of Home Depot from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $325.00 to $372.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $323.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $334.23 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $363.69 and a 200-day moving average of $341.88. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.26 and a 52-week high of $396.87. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $331.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.98.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio 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.