Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 566,620 Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. $HD

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in The Home Depot by 178.4%, owning 884,220 shares after acquiring 566,620 additional shares in Q2.
• CEO Edward P. Decker and EVP William D. Bastek both sold significant shares recently, with Decker reducing his position by 21.18% and Bastek by 8.68%.
• Home Depot's recent earnings report showed a slight miss on EPS, with quarterly earnings at $4.68 per share compared to expectations of $4.69.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD - Free Report) by 178.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 884,220 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock after buying an additional 566,620 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.09% of Home Depot worth $324,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HD. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 26,918 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $10,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,203 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in Home Depot by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 12,204 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Home Depot by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 666 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 4,690 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $1,824,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. raised its stake in Home Depot by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 15,827 shares of the home improvement retailer's stock worth $6,156,000 after purchasing an additional 3,745 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company's stock.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.4%

HD traded down $1.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $415.77. 6,709,599 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,720,799. The Home Depot, Inc. has a one year low of $326.31 and a one year high of $439.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $413.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $394.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $373.39.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.69 by ($0.01). Home Depot had a return on equity of 193.99% and a net margin of 8.86%.The business had revenue of $45.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Home Depot has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.940-14.940 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Home Depot's payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Angie Brown sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.07, for a total value of $404,070.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,837 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,550,416.59. This represents a 20.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP William D. Bastek sold 2,303 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.12, for a total transaction of $974,445.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,254,313.20. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,835 shares of company stock worth $19,623,432. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $497.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $435.00.

Home Depot Company 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.