Conning Inc. Sells 4,954 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Conning Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 4.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,180 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 4,954 shares during the quarter. Home Depot makes up approximately 1.5% of Conning Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $44,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HD. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 51,250.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,779,833 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $35,575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 8,762,735 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 33,540.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,478,855 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $509,081,000 after buying an additional 1,474,459 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 1st quarter worth about $513,016,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,437,805 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,853,143,000 after acquiring an additional 971,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the 1st quarter worth about $301,364,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on HD shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $375.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Home Depot from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Loop Capital raised Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $360.00 to $460.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Home Depot from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.48.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of HD stock opened at $392.59 on Monday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1-year low of $286.79 and a 1-year high of $421.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $392.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $362.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.01.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.59 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.57 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 681.27%. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.57%.

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.