Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Shares Down 0.4% on Analyst Downgrade

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s stock price traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $435.00 to $418.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Home Depot traded as low as $360.67 and last traded at $362.29. 615,513 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 3,217,302 shares. The stock had previously closed at $363.77.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on HD. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Home Depot from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. HSBC upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $356.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Home Depot from $467.00 to $437.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.85.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at $5,032,910,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,212,546,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Home Depot by 21,394.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,039,862 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $793,486,000 after buying an additional 2,030,372 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Home Depot by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,149,890 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,726,186,000 after buying an additional 1,424,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at about $471,189,000. Institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Stock Performance

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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $393.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $399.16. The company has a market capitalization of $360.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The company had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is currently 61.66%.

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.