FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Has $2.05 Million Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH grew its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,058 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $2,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Home Depot by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,790,895 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,046,485,000 after acquiring an additional 184,480 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 1.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,515,343 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,931,328,000 after purchasing an additional 100,139 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 15.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,437,805 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,853,143,000 after purchasing an additional 971,833 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Home Depot by 2.5% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,774,083 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,980,883,000 after purchasing an additional 138,396 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Home Depot by 13.1% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,917,286 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,886,271,000 after buying an additional 569,690 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Home Depot from $380.00 to $375.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Daiwa America upgraded Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Home Depot from $345.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $402.38.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $411.90 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $378.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $357.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.00. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.26 and a 52 week high of $420.03.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.59 by $0.08. Home Depot had a return on equity of 681.27% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 60.57%.

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.