Arlington Partners LLC Lowers Stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Arlington Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,772 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 595 shares during the quarter. Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $4,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HD. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Home Depot by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,994 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in Home Depot by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in Home Depot by 17.1% in the 3rd 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 raised its position in Home Depot by 12.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth $1,793,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:HD opened at $414.25 on Tuesday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $323.77 and a one year high of $439.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $406.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $394.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.05.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $40.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. Home Depot’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total value of $40,258.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,159.70. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.91, for a total transaction of $9,030,368.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,343,399.64. This trade represents a 51.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,188 shares of company stock valued at $15,624,585. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HD shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $372.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $363.00 to $413.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $428.78.

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.