Bailard Inc. Purchases 493 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 83,026 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. Home Depot makes up approximately 0.9% of Bailard Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $28,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 88,444 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $26,725,000 after buying an additional 3,162 shares during the last quarter. Hartline Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 15,574 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,397,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors now owns 7,513 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at $253,000. Finally, Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel now owns 2,700 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE HD traded down $6.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $332.89. 4,027,485 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,358,525. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.26 and a 52-week high of $396.87. The firm has a market cap of $329.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $365.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.60%.

Insider Transactions at Home Depot

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HD. Piper Sandler raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $311.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays raised shares of Home Depot from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $325.00 to $372.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Company 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.