Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Decreases Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 171,464 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 1,031 shares during the quarter. Home Depot comprises 0.6% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $66,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,763,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $37,251,142,000 after purchasing an additional 875,836 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,957,463 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $8,525,046,000 after buying an additional 257,036 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,032,910,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Home Depot by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,455,582 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,845,098,000 after acquiring an additional 647,552 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Home Depot by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,552,090 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,715,668,000 after purchasing an additional 125,441 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HD has been the topic of a number of research reports. KGI Securities raised shares of Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, HSBC raised Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $356.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.08.

Home Depot Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of HD opened at $354.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $352.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $323.77 and a 1 year high of $439.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $369.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $394.20.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 61.66%.

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.