Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC Grows Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC grew its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,729 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $7,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 99,916.0% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 870,320,643 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $270,356,404,000 after purchasing an additional 869,450,462 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Home Depot by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 77,137,759 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $22,764,896,000 after purchasing an additional 878,220 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,135,000 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,635,031,000 after buying an additional 126,981 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,737,490 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,918,425,000 after buying an additional 1,698,402 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 6.3% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,718,744 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,638,916,000 after buying an additional 925,962 shares during the last quarter. 68.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HD has been the topic of several analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “c+” rating to an “a-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 15th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Home Depot from $372.00 to $341.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price objective on Home Depot from $330.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Home Depot from $321.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.52.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In other news, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 6,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.22, for a total value of $1,974,824.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,375,680.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Home Depot news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 12,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.40, for a total transaction of $3,943,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,770,144.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 6,091 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.22, for a total value of $1,974,824.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,749 shares in the company, valued at $7,375,680.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,811 shares of company stock valued at $6,441,376 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Home Depot Trading Up 0.8 %

HD traded up $2.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $297.19. 179,120 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,596,006. The company has a market cap of $297.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 30.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $303.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $306.56. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.26 and a 1-year high of $347.25.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 15th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.20. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,424.89% and a net margin of 10.48%. The firm had revenue of $42.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.05 earnings per share. Home Depot’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 31st were given a dividend of $2.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 30th. This represents a $8.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.22%.

Home Depot declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the home improvement retailer to reacquire up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Home Depot Profile

The Home Depot, Inc operates as a home improvement retailer. 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.