Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Has $11.07 Million Stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. reduced its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 4.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 27,319 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 1,311 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $11,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 3.7% during the third quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 704 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Home Depot by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL increased its holdings in Home Depot by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 2,494 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Home Depot by 1.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,372 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 3.4% during the second quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 845 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $390.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $451.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Home Depot has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $426.00.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD traded down $1.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $427.31. 85,067 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,385,538. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $308.59 and a one year high of $430.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $404.17 and its 200 day moving average is $369.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The firm has a market cap of $424.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.01.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.14%.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $6,553,958.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,727,562. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total transaction of $40,258.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,159.70. This represents a 0.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,188 shares of company stock worth $15,624,585. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.