UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Sells 173 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp trimmed its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,670 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 173 shares during the quarter. Home Depot comprises approximately 1.3% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $4,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HD. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 8.7% in the third quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 6,031 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp raised its stake in Home Depot by 2.0% in the third quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 3,009 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its stake in Home Depot by 187.3% in the third quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 497 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in Home Depot by 2.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 110,803 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $33,480,000 after purchasing an additional 3,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in Home Depot by 6.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 102,043 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $30,834,000 after purchasing an additional 6,403 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Home Depot from $420.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer downgraded Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.19.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of HD stock traded down $1.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $340.69. 2,867,117 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,344,557. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $361.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $343.16. The firm has a market cap of $337.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 1.35. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.26 and a fifty-two week high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 59.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In other Home Depot news, 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 value of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the sale, 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.