Hills Bank & Trust Co Has $12.60 Million Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Hills Bank & Trust Co reduced its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,401 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 152 shares during the quarter. Home Depot makes up 0.9% of Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $12,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HD. SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,917 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Home Depot by 17.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Home Depot by 10.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,471,223 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $596,140,000 after purchasing an additional 141,915 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 4.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 4,458 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 5,954 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on HD. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. HSBC raised shares of Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $356.00 to $410.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $436.50.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $351.16 on Friday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.77 and a fifty-two week 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 has a market capitalization of $348.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $397.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $399.26.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $2.30 dividend. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 61.66%.

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.