First Merchants Corp Has $10.84 Million Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

First Merchants Corp cut its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,867 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 27 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $10,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at $287,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,260 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Values Added Financial LLC grew its stake in Home Depot by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 553,412 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $215,272,000 after acquiring an additional 107,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,483 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,744,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded Home Depot from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $451.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Home Depot from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Home Depot from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $433.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In other Home Depot news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 77,475 shares in the company, valued at $31,727,562. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total transaction of $40,258.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,465 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,159.70. This represents a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Down 0.7 %

HD stock opened at $409.47 on Friday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $323.77 and a 1-year high of $439.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $404.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $395.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $406.76 billion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.05.

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

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.