The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 611,389 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,957 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $237,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Home Depot by 0.9% in 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 grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $8,525,046,000 after purchasing an additional 257,036 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,032,910,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $3,715,668,000 after purchasing an additional 125,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Home Depot by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,052,091 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,521,173,000 after buying an additional 468,203 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Home Depot currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.85.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Home Depot stock opened at $353.78 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $384.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $398.15. The company has a market capitalization of $351.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.08. 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 results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 61.66%.

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.