Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Shares Up 2% – What’s Next?

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s share price shot up 2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $361.50 and last traded at $360.37. 808,632 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 3,191,238 shares. The stock had previously closed at $353.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on HD. KGI Securities raised Home Depot to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Home Depot from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $356.00 to $410.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Home Depot has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $436.50.

Home Depot Trading Down 1.0 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $393.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $398.66. 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 company has a market cap of $349.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.09.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The firm had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Depot

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HD. Prostatis Group LLC grew its position in shares of Home Depot by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 5,891 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,291,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Nestegg Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Home Depot during the 4th quarter worth $665,000. M1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter valued at $358,000. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth $3,133,000. Finally, Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new position in shares of Home Depot in the 4th quarter worth $763,000. 70.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.