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

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $311.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Home Depot stock traded up $7.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $342.85. 4,165,054 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,606,830. The company has a market cap of $339.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $361.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 1.35. Home Depot has a 52 week low of $274.26 and a 52 week high of $396.87.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,311,070,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Home Depot by 12,647.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,569,482 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,930,104,000 after buying an additional 5,525,791 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Home Depot by 38.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after buying an additional 1,207,388 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Home Depot by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,117,016,000 after buying an additional 992,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,210,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Home Depot

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.