Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Trading Down 1.4% – Time to Sell?

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)’s stock price traded down 1.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $387.45 and last traded at $388.25. Approximately 1,052,698 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 3,364,609 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.82.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Home Depot from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Melius Research initiated coverage on Home Depot in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $420.00 target price on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group raised Home Depot from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $360.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Home Depot from $363.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned 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 $426.00.

Home Depot Stock Up 2.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $389.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $410.40 and its 200 day moving average is $380.37. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.14. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The company had revenue of $40.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Home Depot, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is currently 61.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Ann Marie Campbell sold 100 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.58, for a total transaction of $40,258.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,159.70. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.91, for a total value of $9,030,368.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,343,399.64. This represents a 51.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,188 shares of company stock worth $15,624,585. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HD. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Home Depot in the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Home Depot during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Home Depot in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. 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.