West Branch Capital LLC Purchases 689 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,930 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. Home Depot comprises 1.6% of West Branch Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $5,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HD. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 5.5% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 39,994 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $13,768,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 92.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 304,156 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $103,872,000 after buying an additional 146,106 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Home Depot by 2.5% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,774,083 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,980,883,000 after buying an additional 138,396 shares during the period. Dundas Partners LLP lifted its stake in Home Depot by 1.7% in the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 101,274 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $34,863,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new position in Home Depot in the second quarter valued at approximately $225,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.91, for a total value of $9,030,368.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,343,399.64. This trade represents a 51.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total value of $40,258.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,159.70. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,188 shares of company stock worth $15,624,585 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on HD. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Home Depot from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $451.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Loop Capital raised Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.00.

Home Depot Stock Up 1.1 %

HD stock opened at $414.46 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $411.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.05. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.77 and a fifty-two week high of $439.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $406.83 and a 200-day moving average of $389.47.

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

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.14%.

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.