Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 3,319 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 5.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 59,825 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,319 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $24,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc boosted 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 acquiring an additional 5,879 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 3.3% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 37,127 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $14,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 1.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 5.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 18,628 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $7,146,000 after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HD shares. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $360.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Home Depot to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Home Depot currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.48.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of HD stock opened at $392.53 on Friday. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $286.79 and a 52-week high of $421.56. The stock has a market cap of $389.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.42, a PEG ratio of 2.72 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $392.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $361.63.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.59 by $0.08. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 681.27%. The firm had revenue of $43.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 60.57%.

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.