Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Home Depot (NYSE:HD)

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Home Depot (NYSE:HD) in a report released on Tuesday, StockNewsAPI reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $426.00 price target on the home improvement retailer’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.41% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. DA Davidson raised shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $352.00 to $395.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Home Depot from $440.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.58.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD stock traded up $10.66 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $369.12. The stock had a trading volume of 3,112,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,436,392. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $339.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $352.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $366.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.99. Home Depot has a fifty-two week low of $274.26 and a fifty-two week high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 14th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $36.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.65 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.79% and a return on equity of 1,056.67%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 EPS. Analysts predict that Home Depot will post 15.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

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

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HD. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in Home Depot by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 986 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $351,000. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning raised its stake in Home Depot by 162.7% in the fourth quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 2,698 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $935,000 after buying an additional 1,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marion Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Home Depot by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 6,423 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.