The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Shares Sold by Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD – Get Rating) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 384,677 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 5,520 shares during the period. Home Depot makes up about 2.2% of Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $115,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HD. Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 3.4% during the first quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $6,345,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 28.5% during the first quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,062 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Diversified LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 1.5% during the first quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 3,257 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $975,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital raised its position in Home Depot by 3.9% during the first quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 2,664 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Home Depot by 4.6% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.66% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HD opened at $299.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 165.70, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $306.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.44. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $264.51 and a 52 week high of $420.61.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 16th. The home improvement retailer reported $5.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.95 by $0.10. Home Depot had a negative return on equity of 3,166.43% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $43.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 16.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, August 18th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the home improvement retailer to buy up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 31st. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 46.71%.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Matt Carey sold 12,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.26, for a total transaction of $4,000,689.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 34,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,917,927.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Home Depot from $335.00 to $311.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on Home Depot from $327.00 to $348.00 in a research report on Friday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Home Depot from $420.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 18th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Home Depot to $334.00 in a research report on Monday, August 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.95.

Home Depot Company Profile

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The Home Depot, Inc operates as a home improvement retailer. It operates The Home Depot stores that sell 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, cabinets and cabinet makeovers, countertops, furnaces and central air systems, and windows.

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