First Merchants Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. $HD

First Merchants Corp lowered its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,466 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 730 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $9,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 86.8% during the first quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on Home Depot from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Home Depot from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Home Depot from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Home Depot from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.42.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 32,897 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.22, for a total transaction of $13,067,346.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,658.50. The trade was a 21.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Angie Brown sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.07, for a total value of $404,070.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,416.59. This represents a 20.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,835 shares of company stock worth $19,623,432 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.8%

HD opened at $383.84 on Thursday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $326.31 and a 52 week high of $439.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $376.89. The firm has a market cap of $382.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.31.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.69 by ($0.01). Home Depot had a return on equity of 193.99% and a net margin of 8.86%.The firm had revenue of $45.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Home Depot has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.940-14.940 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

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.