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

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,540,000 shares, a growth of 8.9% from the November 15th total of 9,680,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total value of $40,258.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,159.70. This trade represents a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 77,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,727,562. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,188 shares of company stock worth $15,624,585 over the last ninety days. Company 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 HD. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 2.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,426,649 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,819,679,000 after purchasing an additional 205,954 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 51,250.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,779,833 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $35,575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 8,762,735 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,679,237 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,516,827,000 after purchasing an additional 795,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 100,139 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on HD. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $360.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $387.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $430.00 to $466.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.00.

Home Depot Price Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock traded down $3.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $407.49. The company had a trading volume of 323,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,357,056. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The company has a market capitalization of $404.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $411.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $379.27. Home Depot has a 1-year low of $323.77 and a 1-year high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.81 earnings per share. Home Depot’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Home Depot will post 15.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is presently 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.