ATLANTA, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Home Depot(R), the world's largest home improvement retailer, today announced that its board of directors declared a third quarter cash dividend of 22.5 cents per share. The dividend is payable on December 18 to shareholders of record on the close of business on December 4. This is the 87th consecutive quarter the Company has paid a cash dividend.

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The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,270 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. In fiscal 2007, The Home Depot had sales of $77.3 billion and earnings from continuing operations of $4.2 billion. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index. HDE

SOURCE The Home Depot