Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,264 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HD. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 12,647.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,569,482 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,930,104,000 after buying an additional 5,525,791 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,388 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Home Depot during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,210,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Home Depot by 20.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,468,902 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $746,003,000 after buying an additional 421,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Home Depot by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,418,400 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,032,904,000 after purchasing an additional 346,641 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $415.00 price target for the company. Barclays upgraded shares of Home Depot from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $372.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Home Depot from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Home Depot from $420.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $334.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $363.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $341.88. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.26 and a 52 week high of $396.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $331.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,950,123.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.