The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Stake Raised by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 100,052 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,199 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $38,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its position in Home Depot by 65.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Home Depot by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 23,758 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $9,242,000 after buying an additional 3,873 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic raised its holdings in Home Depot by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,357,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Home Depot by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 909,530 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $368,542,000 after buying an additional 132,967 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Home Depot by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,569 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,291,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Home Depot Stock Down 1.6 %

HD opened at $368.49 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $399.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $400.03. The Home Depot, Inc. has a twelve month low of $323.77 and a twelve month high of $439.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $366.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $2.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 61.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on HD shares. KGI Securities upgraded Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $356.00 to $410.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $436.50.

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.