Investors Purchase High Volume of Home Depot Call Options (NYSE:HD)

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 43,549 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 77% compared to the average volume of 24,583 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HD. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Home Depot from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $390.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $387.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $363.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In other Home Depot news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,475 shares in the company, valued at $31,727,562. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total transaction of $40,258.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,159.70. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,188 shares of company stock valued at $15,624,585. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,700,427 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $8,767,449,000 after purchasing an additional 433,126 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,426,649 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,819,679,000 after purchasing an additional 205,954 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 51,250.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,779,833 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $35,575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 8,762,735 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Home Depot by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,679,237 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,516,827,000 after buying an additional 795,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 1.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,515,343 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,931,328,000 after buying an additional 100,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD traded down $0.47 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $428.20. The stock had a trading volume of 1,468,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,391,487. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $425.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $404.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $369.82. Home Depot has a one year low of $308.59 and a one year high of $430.25.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.14. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.81 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Home Depot will post 15.12 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 61.14%.

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.