Meixler Investment Management Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Meixler Investment Management Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 3.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,150 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Home Depot accounts for about 0.9% of Meixler Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Meixler Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $1,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HD. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Home Depot by 51,250.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,779,833 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $35,575,880,000 after buying an additional 8,762,735 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Home Depot by 33,540.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,478,855 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $509,081,000 after buying an additional 1,474,459 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Home Depot by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,437,805 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,853,143,000 after acquiring an additional 971,833 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the 1st quarter valued at about $301,364,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 95.2% during the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 1,139,934 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $392,411,000 after purchasing an additional 556,053 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HD. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $363.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.04.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of HD stock opened at $405.90 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $395.19 and its 200 day moving average is $364.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74. The firm has a market cap of $403.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.01. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $286.79 and a 52-week high of $421.56.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.59 by $0.08. Home Depot had a return on equity of 733.61% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.57%.

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.