Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Buys 272 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 22.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,474 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Home Depot in the fourth quarter worth about $4,311,070,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 12,647.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,569,482 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,930,104,000 after acquiring an additional 5,525,791 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207,388 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,117,016,000 after acquiring an additional 992,444 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,769,610 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $613,258,000 after acquiring an additional 495,894 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Matt Carey sold 56,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.18, for a total transaction of $19,332,841.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,503,123.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HD. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $415.00 target price for the company. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $352.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.42.

Home Depot Price Performance

HD stock opened at $333.64 on Friday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $274.26 and a one year high of $396.87. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $338.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $352.30. 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 company has a market capitalization of $330.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 60.36%.

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.