Steele Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,236 The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Steele Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,236 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optas LLC raised its position in Home Depot by 1.7% during the fourth 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 increased its position in Home Depot by 0.8% during the third quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,778,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted 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 worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Investors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Independent Investors Inc. now owns 6,052 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of HD traded down $2.82 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $333.98. The company had a trading volume of 544,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,311,398. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $274.26 and a one year high of $396.87. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $364.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.58. The company has a market capitalization of $330.98 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,712,878.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.