Prospector Partners LLC Acquires 87 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Prospector Partners LLC raised its holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,586 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 87 shares during the quarter. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $12,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,763,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $37,251,142,000 after acquiring an additional 875,836 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,957,463 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $8,525,046,000 after purchasing an additional 257,036 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at $5,032,910,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 125,441 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,052,091 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,521,173,000 after acquiring an additional 468,203 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.85.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:HD opened at $353.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $351.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $384.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $398.25. 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 Home Depot, Inc. has a 12-month low of $323.77 and a 12-month high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $2.30 dividend. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.66%.

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.