Alesco Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Alesco Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 911 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Alesco Advisors LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.7% during the third quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 88,444 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $26,725,000 after purchasing an additional 3,162 shares during the period. Hartline Investment Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 15,574 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Wolf Group Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors now owns 7,513 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth $253,000. Finally, Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 8.0% during the third quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel now owns 2,700 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Home Depot Price Performance

Home Depot stock traded up $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $335.01. 2,464,650 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,354,161. The company has a market capitalization of $332.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $364.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $340.68. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $396.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $2.25 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. 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 dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Home Depot news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot 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 of the company’s stock, 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Zelman & Associates raised Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler raised Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $311.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Barclays raised Home Depot from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $325.00 to $372.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Home Depot in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $415.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

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.