Empirical Finance LLC Increases Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,045 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Home Depot accounts for 0.8% of Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $14,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 27.6% during the second quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 27,155 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $9,348,000 after purchasing an additional 5,879 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,994 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position 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 buying an additional 132,967 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 121.0% in the second quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 269,368 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $92,727,000 after buying an additional 147,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 225.6% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 32,717 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $13,257,000 after buying an additional 22,668 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Home Depot Price Performance

Home Depot stock opened at $403.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $401.28 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $397.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $365.56. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52 week low of $302.34 and a 52 week high of $421.56.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Home Depot from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $360.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $345.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.00.

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.