Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Shares Down 0.3%

Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) fell 0.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $381.50 and last traded at $382.50. 411,935 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 3,130,558 shares. The stock had previously closed at $383.51.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HD. Oppenheimer lowered Home Depot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. 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. StockNews.com raised Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, HSBC cut Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $323.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.76.

Home Depot Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $382.42 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $367.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $334.18.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.05. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Home Depot’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 59.60%.

Insider Transactions at Home Depot

In related news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $13,265,887.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Depot

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Home Depot in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Home Depot in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

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.