Ken Fisher Loves These 5 Defensive Stocks

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

Fisher Asset Management’s Stake Value: $2.435 billion

Percentage of Fisher Asset Management’s Portfolio: 1.43%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is America’s largest home improvement retailer, with box-format stores across North and South America. The company’s quarterly dividend of $1.90 was paid out on June 16, 2022. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) has a dividend yield of 2.72% and an annual payout rate of $7.6. 

In the first quarter of 2022, Fisher Asset Management held the most prominent stake in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) among 912 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. The firm owned 8.1 million company shares worth $2.43 billion, making up 1.43% of its portfolio.

On May 20, Citi analyst Steven Zaccone raised The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) to $348 from $327 while keeping a Buy rating on the company shares.

Ensemble Capital recently published its first-quarter 2021 investor letter and mentioned The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) in it. Here is what the firm said:

“Home Depot (7.7% weight in the Fund): The demand surge for remodeling and home improvement goods sparked by shelter in place orders, remote work going mainstream, and a shortage of homes on the market to buy, ran headlong into the supply chain crisis, triggering surging prices in the products Home Depot sells. But the company has been able to pass nearly all of these increased costs on to customers, with revenue growing 37% over the past two years while gross profits, or the profits the company makes on each item they sell, increased by 35%. Even this small difference appears to be due not to inflation eating away at Home Depot’s profits, but rather be a function of the huge increase in revenue the company has been generating in low margin lumber sales.”