Hancock Whitney Corp Decreases Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Hancock Whitney Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 86,490 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 7,435 shares during the period. Home Depot accounts for about 1.1% of Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $29,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HD. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Home Depot in the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,000. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 2,295 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 10,043 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,035,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 206,730 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $62,466,000 after buying an additional 927 shares during the period. Finally, One Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 33,157 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $10,019,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on Home Depot from $411.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.46.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HD traded up $1.94 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $334.50. 780,425 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,376,599. The stock has a market capitalization of $331.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $338.85 and its 200-day moving average is $350.38. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $274.26 and a one year high of $396.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 14th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $36.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.65 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,056.67% and a net margin of 9.79%. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Matt Carey sold 56,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.18, for a total transaction of $19,332,841.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,325 shares in the company, valued at $11,503,123.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.