The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Stock Position Decreased by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 225,820 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 2,198 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $78,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optas LLC increased its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.8% during the third quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,778,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 722 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Investors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Independent Investors Inc. now owns 6,052 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total value 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. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $337.93 on Tuesday. 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 cap of $334.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $369.56 and its 200 day moving average is $338.82. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 1,339.65%. The firm had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend 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.