Washburn Capital Management Inc. Purchases 318 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Washburn Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,062 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Home Depot makes up about 0.8% of Washburn Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Washburn Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $1,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 boosted its stake in Home Depot by 51.4% during the fourth 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 increased its position in Home Depot by 17.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 909,530 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $368,542,000 after acquiring an additional 132,967 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,569 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth about $1,793,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on HD shares. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays increased their price target on Home Depot from $372.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Home Depot from $430.00 to $466.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $428.78.

Home Depot Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $414.25 on Tuesday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $323.77 and a 52-week high of $439.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $406.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $394.55. 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 has a market cap 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.14. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The business had revenue of $40.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 77,475 shares in the company, valued at $31,727,562. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.91, for a total value of $9,030,368.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,343,399.64. The trade was 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 worth $15,624,585. 0.10% of the stock is 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.