Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Sells 102 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC decreased its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,261 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 102 shares during the quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $3,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HD. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,117,016,000 after purchasing an additional 992,444 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Home Depot by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,217,777 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,540,197,000 after buying an additional 347,614 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,311,070,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,802,085 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,050,363,000 after purchasing an additional 195,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,465,972 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,240,783,000 after buying an additional 82,672 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a report on Friday, May 10th. HSBC decreased their price target on Home Depot from $323.00 to $318.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America increased 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. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, EVP Matt Carey sold 56,008 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.18, for a total transaction of $19,332,841.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,503,123.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Down 0.7 %

HD traded down $2.51 during trading on Monday, hitting $353.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,125,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,409,425. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $352.41. The company has a market capitalization of $350.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 1.34. The Home Depot, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.26 and a twelve month high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 14th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $36.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.65 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,056.67% and a net margin of 9.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.82 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 60.36%.

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.