The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,310,000 shares, a decrease of 5.9% from the March 31st total of 9,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Home Depot Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $331.97 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $363.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.81. 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 company has a market capitalization of $328.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.01. Home Depot has a 12-month low of $274.26 and a 12-month high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Home Depot will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, 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 transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Depot

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,311,070,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 12,647.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,569,482 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,930,104,000 after buying an additional 5,525,791 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,506,659,000 after buying an additional 1,207,388 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,117,016,000 after buying an additional 992,444 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 3rd quarter valued at about $207,210,000. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HD. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Home Depot from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays raised Home Depot from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $325.00 to $372.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nineteen have assigned 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 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.