Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Buys 46,474 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,392,582 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,474 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $479,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Home Depot during the 1st quarter valued at about $513,016,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Home Depot by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,117,016,000 after purchasing an additional 992,444 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Home Depot by 15.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 971,833 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Home Depot during the 1st quarter valued at about $301,364,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased 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 valued at $1,886,271,000 after purchasing an additional 569,690 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on HD. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Home Depot from $360.00 to $330.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $395.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.79.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD opened at $382.01 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $361.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $353.93. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $396.87. The stock has a market cap of $378.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is presently 60.36%.

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.