Rathbones Group PLC Buys 20,662 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Rathbones Group PLC increased its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 595,304 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,662 shares during the period. Home Depot accounts for 1.1% of Rathbones Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.06% of Home Depot worth $231,567,000 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 the company. U S Wealth Group LLC. acquired a new position in Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,970,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Home Depot by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,934 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $7,365,000 after purchasing an additional 3,799 shares during the last quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at about $446,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 5,426 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,111,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the period. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in Home Depot by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 749 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HSBC raised 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 research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.85.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $353.78 on Monday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $384.89 and its 200-day moving average is $398.35. The Home Depot, Inc. has a twelve month low of $323.77 and a twelve month high of $439.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $351.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.08.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 61.66%.

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.