Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 321,331 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,759,031 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock after selling 321,331 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.78% of Home Depot worth $3,018,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alta Advisers Ltd increased its holdings in Home Depot by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 3,321 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,970 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $766,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Home Depot by 84.0% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 25,140 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock valued at $9,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 631,481 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock valued at $245,640,000 after buying an additional 47,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on HD. Gordon Haskett cut Home Depot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, KGI Securities raised shares of Home Depot to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $434.08.

Home Depot Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of HD stock traded up $3.03 on Thursday, reaching $359.45. 2,746,360 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,464,881. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $364.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $392.79. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.77 and a 52 week high of $439.37. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $357.30 billion, a PE ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change 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 2.56%. Home Depot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.66%.

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.