Tufton Capital Management Reduces Stock Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Tufton Capital Management decreased its position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,364 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $531,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. raised its holdings in Home Depot by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 4,653 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.0% in the third quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Live Oak Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Live Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,915 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HD. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Home Depot from $467.00 to $437.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Home Depot has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $436.50.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HD opened at $390.44 on Friday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.77 and a fifty-two week high of $439.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $401.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $398.37. The company has a market capitalization of $387.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.66%.

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.