The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Stock Position Raised by Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,486 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $2,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 3.7% in the third quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 88,444 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $26,725,000 after buying an additional 3,162 shares during the period. Hartline Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 15,574 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,397,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Wolf Group Capital Advisors boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors now owns 7,513 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,604,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter worth $253,000. Finally, Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 8.0% in the third quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel now owns 2,700 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In other 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 transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the 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 owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 approximately $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on HD. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $323.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Home Depot from $420.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on 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, StockNews.com cut Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Home Depot has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HD traded up $7.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $342.85. 4,165,054 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,606,830. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.26 and a 1-year high of $396.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $339.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $361.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.08.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. 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 payout ratio is currently 59.60%.

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.