VELA Investment Management LLC Sells 623 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

VELA Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,134 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 623 shares during the period. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $1,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HD. Private Client Services LLC purchased a new position in Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth $214,000. Keel Point LLC increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 7,113 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Sippican Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 2,312 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. TNF LLC increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. TNF LLC now owns 2,765 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Investors Research Corp increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 2,032 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE HD opened at $334.83 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $369.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.05. The company has a market cap of $331.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.98. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.26 and a 52-week high of $396.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 1,452.22%. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.60%.

Insider Transactions at Home Depot

In other news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on HD. Oppenheimer cut shares of Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $311.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $375.96.

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.