Advocate Group LLC Increases Stock Position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Advocate Group LLC increased its position in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,525 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock after buying an additional 881 shares during the quarter. Home Depot comprises about 1.5% of Advocate Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Home Depot were worth $8,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 27.6% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 5,879 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its stake 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 worth $7,146,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period. Leeward Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 7.3% in the first quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 10,431 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,001,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at $88,708,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $420.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Home Depot from $380.00 to $375.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Home Depot from $390.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Home Depot from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.38.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HD traded down $2.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $413.24. 634,900 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,380,632. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.00. The Home Depot, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.26 and a 12 month high of $420.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $376.18 and a 200-day moving average of $356.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.74, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.57 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 681.27% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.01 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 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.