Natixis Advisors L.P. Acquires 43,437 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 663,939 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,437 shares during the period. Home Depot comprises 0.6% of Natixis Advisors L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $230,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Optas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,778,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 722 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Investors Inc. raised its holdings in Home Depot by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Independent Investors Inc. now owns 6,052 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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 raised their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $372.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $311.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Home Depot stock traded up $1.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $333.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,012,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,313,724. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.26 and a fifty-two week high of $396.87. 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 company has a market cap of $330.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $363.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.81.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

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

Home Depot 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.