The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,570,000 shares, a decline of 6.1% from the October 15th total of 11,260,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $372.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Home Depot from $459.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Home Depot from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $451.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $426.00.

Home Depot Stock Up 0.6 %

HD opened at $410.44 on Tuesday. Home Depot has a fifty-two week low of $302.34 and a fifty-two week high of $421.56. The company has a market capitalization of $407.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $400.41 and a 200-day moving average of $367.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 1.13.

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. The business had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.81 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Home Depot will post 15.12 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Depot

In related news, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.91, for a total value of $9,030,368.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,404 shares in the company, valued at $8,343,399.64. This trade represents a 51.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HD. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Home Depot by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,700,427 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $8,767,449,000 after acquiring an additional 433,126 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,426,649 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,819,679,000 after purchasing an additional 205,954 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 51,250.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,779,833 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $35,575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 8,762,735 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Home Depot by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,679,237 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,516,827,000 after purchasing an additional 795,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Home Depot by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,515,343 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $2,931,328,000 after purchasing an additional 100,139 shares during the last quarter. 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.