Advocate Group LLC Grows Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Advocate Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,525 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Home Depot makes up 1.5% of Advocate Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $8,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HD. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 33,540.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,478,855 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $509,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,459 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the first quarter worth $513,016,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Home Depot by 15.0% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 971,833 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Home Depot in the 1st quarter valued at $301,364,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Home Depot by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,917,286 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,886,271,000 after buying an additional 569,690 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of HD traded down $2.83 on Thursday, hitting $413.24. 634,900 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,380,632. The firm has a market capitalization of $409.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $420.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $376.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $356.72.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $43.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.57 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 681.27% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HD shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Daiwa America upgraded Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital raised Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $360.00 to $460.00 in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on Home Depot in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $402.38.

Home Depot Company 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.