National Pension Service Boosts Holdings in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,858,658 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 238,389 shares during the quarter. Home Depot accounts for 0.7% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. National Pension Service’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $753,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 10.7% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,394 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Home Depot by 5.8% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,421 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,381,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Home Depot by 0.3% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 974,042 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $373,078,000 after acquiring an additional 2,654 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 5.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,433 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,235,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. Finally, GSB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 0.4% in the first quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,733 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,501,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Home Depot Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $395.57 on Tuesday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $286.79 and a 1 year high of $421.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $392.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $392.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $362.47.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.59 by $0.08. Home Depot had a return on equity of 681.27% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $43.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HD shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $426.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $387.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $345.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Home Depot in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $420.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.48.

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.