Zega Financial LLC Buys 1,776 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Zega Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 227.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,556 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the quarter. Zega Financial LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HD. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Home Depot by 7.2% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 992,444 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,790,895 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,046,485,000 after acquiring an additional 184,480 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake 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 worth $2,853,143,000 after acquiring an additional 971,833 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 569,690 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Home Depot by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,643,176 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,598,316,000 after purchasing an additional 333,312 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on HD. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Home Depot from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $363.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $389.04.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $383.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $380.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $362.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $353.92. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $274.26 and a one year high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 681.27%. The company had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.65 earnings per share. Home Depot’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.