Vestcor Inc Decreases Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Vestcor Inc decreased its position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 25,381 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 1,521 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $9,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HD. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 17.8% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,917 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 17.1% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 909,530 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $368,542,000 after purchasing an additional 132,967 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 10.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,471,223 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $596,140,000 after purchasing an additional 141,915 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 4.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 4,458 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 5.9% in the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 10,052 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,070,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $436.50.

Home Depot Price Performance

HD opened at $364.82 on Thursday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $323.77 and a 1 year high of $439.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $399.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $399.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $362.39 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. Home Depot’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is currently 61.66%.

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.