Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Trading Down 1.2% After Analyst Downgrade

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s stock price fell 1.2% on Wednesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $437.00 to $391.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Home Depot traded as low as $326.31 and last traded at $331.23. 1,521,267 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 3,467,072 shares. The stock had previously closed at $335.24.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Home Depot from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Home Depot from $431.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $435.00 to $418.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.08.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Home Depot by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,763,752 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $37,251,142,000 after buying an additional 875,836 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Home Depot by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,957,463 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $8,525,046,000 after buying an additional 257,036 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,032,910,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Home Depot by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,455,582 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,845,098,000 after buying an additional 647,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 13.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,424,857 shares during the period. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Home Depot Stock Up 5.7 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $377.57 and its 200 day moving average is $396.60. The firm has a market cap of $352.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65.

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

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.66%.

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.