Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Reduces Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. lowered its position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,570 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 9,558 shares during the period. Home Depot accounts for about 0.8% of Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $8,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caliber Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Home Depot by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,400 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of Home Depot in the third quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Home Depot by 6.2% during the third quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 14,133 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,270,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC increased its holdings in Home Depot by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 3,785 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $683,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Home Depot

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $323.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Zelman & Associates raised Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Home Depot has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

HD opened at $336.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $396.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $366.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.19. The firm has a market cap of $333.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 59.60%.

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.