Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. Sells 467 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,336 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 467 shares during the period. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $2,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Home Depot by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 563 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth $281,000. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 110.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Home Depot by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 4,537 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Home Depot by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 26,918 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $10,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,203 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HD. Evercore ISI set a $400.00 price target on shares of Home Depot and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $410.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $405.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities cut shares of Home Depot to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $426.77.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In other Home Depot news, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 5,406 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.28, for a total transaction of $1,996,327.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,413,285.76. The trade was a 23.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Fahim Siddiqui sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.14, for a total value of $954,564.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,919,130.14. The trade was a 24.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Home Depot stock opened at $348.74 on Wednesday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $326.31 and a 1-year high of $439.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $346.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $363.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $381.43.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.59 by ($0.03). Home Depot had a return on equity of 242.51% and a net margin of 8.98%. The firm had revenue of $39.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $2.30 dividend. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.42%.

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.