M. Kraus & Co Grows Stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

M. Kraus & Co grew its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,371 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. M. Kraus & Co’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot in the third quarter worth $41,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Home Depot in the 2nd quarter worth $47,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in Home Depot by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 136 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Home Depot by 111.3% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of HD opened at $405.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 1.13. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $323.77 and a one year high of $439.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $405.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.65. The company has a market capitalization of $403.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.05.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Home Depot from $363.00 to $413.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $372.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $345.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Home Depot from $390.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Home Depot presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $426.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total value of $40,258.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,018,159.70. This trade represents a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,727,562. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,188 shares of company stock valued at $15,624,585 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.