Samalin Investment Counsel LLC Buys 229 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Samalin Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,921 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $1,136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its stake in Home Depot by 65.2% during the fourth quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 9,100 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,535,000 after purchasing an additional 3,590 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 23,758 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $9,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,873 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 17.1% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 909,530 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $368,542,000 after acquiring an additional 132,967 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,569 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $352.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $349.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $393.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $398.90. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.77 and a 52 week high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. Home Depot’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HD. KGI Securities raised shares of Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $436.50.

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.