Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA Acquires New Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,192 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,099,000. Home Depot accounts for 1.3% of Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at $4,311,070,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Home Depot in the 1st quarter valued at about $513,016,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Home Depot by 7.2% in 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 in 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 purchasing an additional 971,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the first quarter worth about $301,364,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $375.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Home Depot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $386.33.

Home Depot Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Home Depot stock traded up $10.23 on Friday, hitting $375.59. 3,426,154 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,446,290. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.26 and a 52-week high of $396.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11. The stock has a market cap of $372.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $353.44 and its 200 day moving average is $353.58.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its 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. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,056.67% and a net margin of 9.79%. The company had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.