Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Trading Up 0.7% – Time to Buy?

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s stock price was up 0.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $354.38 and last traded at $351.90. Approximately 511,400 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 3,192,194 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HD shares. HSBC raised shares of Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $356.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. KGI Securities raised shares of Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $436.50.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $347.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $396.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $399.40.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $39.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Depot

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