Sentinel Trust Co. LBA Has $1.25 Million Stock Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Sentinel Trust Co. LBA lifted its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,203 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the quarter. Sentinel Trust Co. LBA’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $1,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc grew its holdings in Home Depot by 65.2% during the 4th quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 9,100 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,535,000 after acquiring an additional 3,590 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Home Depot by 17.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 909,530 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $368,542,000 after purchasing an additional 132,967 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Home Depot by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,569 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,793,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on HD shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.50.

Home Depot Price Performance

Home Depot stock opened at $390.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $387.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $401.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $398.37. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.77 and a 52 week high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. Home Depot’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.66%.

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.