The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Shares Sold by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,062 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 2,848 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $20,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,700,427 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $8,767,449,000 after buying an additional 433,126 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,552,090 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,715,668,000 after buying an additional 125,441 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,679,237 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,516,827,000 after buying an additional 795,438 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 5.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,030,483 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,253,952,000 after buying an additional 409,890 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 7,554,880 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,925,498,000 after buying an additional 599,490 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. HSBC raised shares of Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $356.00 to $410.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Home Depot from $455.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $436.50.

Home Depot Stock Down 4.7 %

HD stock opened at $347.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $345.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 12 month low of $323.77 and a 12 month high of $439.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $398.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $399.42.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. Home Depot’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $2.30 dividend. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.66%.

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.