Northstar Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Northstar Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,133 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Home Depot comprises approximately 1.1% of Northstar Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Northstar Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $4,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HD. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the first quarter worth about $27,000. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Home Depot by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 92 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.35.

Home Depot Price Performance

HD stock opened at $342.87 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $339.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.98. The Home Depot, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.26 and a twelve month high of $396.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $369.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $338.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,339.65% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.60%.

Insider Transactions at Home Depot

In other news, 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 transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, 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 transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.