Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Stock Price Down 0.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) dropped 0.5% during trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $425.00 to $400.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Home Depot traded as low as $337.63 and last traded at $338.89. Approximately 498,715 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 3,312,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $340.69.

HD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a report on Monday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Home Depot in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $415.00 target price for the company. One 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 MarketBeat.com, Home Depot presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $39,712,878.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total value of $3,317,185.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,950,123.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Home Depot by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,117,016,000 after acquiring an additional 992,444 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Home Depot by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,217,777 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,540,197,000 after acquiring an additional 347,614 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at $4,311,070,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Home Depot by 1.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,347,396 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,730,889,000 after acquiring an additional 153,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Home Depot by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,802,085 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,050,363,000 after purchasing an additional 195,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Trading Up 2.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $344.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $359.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $343.51. 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 (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 1,452.22%. The business had revenue of $34.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Home Depot’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is 59.60%.

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.