The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Stock Position Cut by Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.

Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. lessened its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 992 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Home Depot by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,963 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Optas LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. STAR Financial Bank raised its stake in Home Depot by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. STAR Financial Bank now owns 3,944 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,367,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 0.8% during the third quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. raised its stake in Home Depot by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,778,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Matt Carey sold 56,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.18, for a total transaction of $19,332,841.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,503,123.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on HD. Zelman & Associates raised Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Home Depot from $415.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Home Depot from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Home Depot from $411.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Home Depot in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $415.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.42.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock traded up $2.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $344.24. 6,344,192 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,519,389. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.26 and a 12-month high of $396.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $341.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $338.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $352.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 14th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.02. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,056.67% and a net margin of 9.79%. The firm had revenue of $36.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.82 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.36%.

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.