Essex Financial Services Inc. Trims Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,315 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 241 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $5,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 1.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,347,396 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,730,889,000 after acquiring an additional 153,141 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 12,647.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,569,482 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,930,104,000 after acquiring an additional 5,525,791 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 38.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207,388 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 11.3% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,418,400 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,032,904,000 after acquiring an additional 346,641 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 0.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,483,454 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $750,448,000 after acquiring an additional 17,224 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Home Depot from $420.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of HD stock traded down $2.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $332.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,347,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,316,489. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $363.69 and a 200-day moving average of $341.88. The Home Depot, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.26 and a twelve month high of $396.87. The stock has a market cap of $329.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.98.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. Home Depot’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total value of $3,317,185.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at $39,712,878.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.