Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 200,725 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 731 shares during the period. Home Depot comprises about 0.7% of Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $78,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HD. SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 17.8% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,917 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the third quarter valued at about $217,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 17.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 909,530 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $368,542,000 after acquiring an additional 132,967 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 14.3% during the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 3.2% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 43,941 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HD shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Home Depot from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Home Depot currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.50.

Home Depot Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $389.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $323.77 and a 1 year high of $439.37. The company has a market cap of $386.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $401.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $399.57.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 61.66%.

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.