WealthTrust Axiom LLC Increases Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

WealthTrust Axiom LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,486 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. WealthTrust Axiom LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HD. Optas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Home Depot by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. boosted its position in Home Depot by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,778,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. CGC Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Home Depot by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 722 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Investors Inc. boosted its position in Home Depot by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Independent Investors Inc. now owns 6,052 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other 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 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on HD. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Piper Sandler raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $311.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE HD traded down $2.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $334.68. 1,690,369 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,324,989. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.26 and a 12 month high of $396.87. The company has a market cap of $331.67 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $364.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.58.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $34.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Home Depot’s revenue for the quarter 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 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. 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. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.60%.

Home Depot 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.