Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 196,565 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1,774.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 207,640 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 196,565 shares during the period. Home Depot accounts for about 1.2% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $84,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Home Depot in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Home Depot during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on HD. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Home Depot from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Daiwa America raised Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Home Depot from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.00.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In other Home Depot news, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.91, for a total value of $9,030,368.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,343,399.64. The trade was a 51.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $6,553,958.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,727,562. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,188 shares of company stock worth $15,624,585 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of HD opened at $429.13 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $407.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $372.20. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 12 month low of $308.59 and a 12 month high of $439.37. The company has a market capitalization of $426.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $40.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.14%.

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.