Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Trims Stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC cut its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,353 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 131 shares during the period. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $3,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Home Depot in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,311,070,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 1st quarter worth $513,016,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,388 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Home Depot by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,117,016,000 after purchasing an additional 992,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Home Depot by 15.0% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 971,833 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on HD. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $360.00 to $330.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Daiwa America raised shares of Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $375.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Home Depot from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $386.33.

Home Depot Stock Performance

NYSE HD traded down $4.85 on Thursday, reaching $365.61. 4,095,976 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,443,302. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.26 and a fifty-two week high of $396.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $362.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $352.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $353.52.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.59 by $0.08. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,056.67% and a net margin of 9.79%. The business had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.36%.

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.