The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Position Reduced by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 30.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,904 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after selling 6,161 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $5,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 51,250.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,779,833 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $35,575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 8,762,735 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 1.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,515,343 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,931,328,000 after buying an additional 100,139 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 971,833 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,774,083 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,980,883,000 after acquiring an additional 138,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,917,286 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,886,271,000 after acquiring an additional 569,690 shares during the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Loop Capital raised shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $430.00 to $466.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $363.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.48.

Home Depot Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $402.99 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $399.61 billion, a PE ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.00. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 1 year low of $276.96 and a 1 year high of $421.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $390.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $360.44.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $42.57 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 681.27% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.65 EPS. Analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.36%.

Home Depot 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.