Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Home Depot (NYSE:HD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Home Depot from $386.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer cut Home Depot from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays raised Home Depot from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $372.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Home Depot currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of HD stock opened at $335.36 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. Home Depot has a twelve month low of $274.26 and a twelve month high of $396.87. The company has a market cap of $332.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $367.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $339.21.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Home Depot will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 59.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total value of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

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.