Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Trading Down 1%

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s stock price dropped 1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $354.19 and last traded at $355.88. Approximately 494,316 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 3,403,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $359.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $411.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $426.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.58.

Home Depot Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $347.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $342.62 and its 200 day moving average is $353.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 14th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.02. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.79% and a return on equity of 1,056.67%. The company had revenue of $36.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home Depot news, EVP Matt Carey sold 56,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.18, for a total transaction of $19,332,841.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,503,123.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HD. Bey Douglas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $913,000. Hartline Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 15,574 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Wolf Group Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Wolf Group Capital Advisors now owns 7,513 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 8,153 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

About Home Depot

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.