5 Housing Stocks to Watch

2. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 68

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is an American home improvement retailer that sells building materials, home improvement products, home decor, and lawn and garden products. 

Bobby Griffin, an analyst from Raymond James, on February 23 lowered the price target on The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) to $350 from $420 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares to better address the compressed valuation multiples for the sector. According to the analyst, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) delivered a “solid” Q4 with comps and EPS above the consensus view, and February to-date trends are off to a solid start.

On February 22, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) declared a $1.90 per share quarterly dividend, a 15.2% increase from its prior dividend of $1.65, which will be paid on March 24 to shareholders of record on March 10. 

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 68 funds were bullish on The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), up from 58 funds in the prior quarter. Fisher Asset Management was the leading shareholder on that list with 7.8 million shares worth $3.2 billion. 

Here is what Ensemble Capital Management has to say about The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“On the more positive side, we saw notable performance contribution from Home Depot. In the midst of a housing shortage and rising home prices, Americans turned to home improvement projects with Home Depot’s startlingly fast growth in 2020 continuing throughout 2021. With each quarter that passed showing a continuation of strong growth rather than the slowdown that many investors expected, the stock led the S&P 500 for most of the year and turned in a heady 27% rally in the fourth quarter to close out the year. Notably, while Do It Yourself homeowners did indeed shop at Home Depot less than they did during record setting 2020, almost half of the company’s revenue comes from Pro contractors where strong growth continues.”