Bank OZK Trims Stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Bank OZK reduced its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,169 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Bank OZK’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $1,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HD. Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 214.3% in the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,514 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $14,357,000 after purchasing an additional 32,395 shares during the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 6.6% in the third quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 1.8% in the third quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,571 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Home Depot by 0.7% in the third quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 7,522 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 241.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,738 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $7,173,000 after purchasing an additional 16,790 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $323.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:HD traded up $3.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $335.09. 2,465,262 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,779,238. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $364.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $340.68. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $396.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.98.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. Home Depot’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $27,950,123.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Home Depot 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.