Short Interest in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Rises By 8.9%

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,540,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the November 15th total of 9,680,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $390.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Home Depot from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $455.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Home Depot from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $426.00.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD stock traded down $2.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $408.35. The stock had a trading volume of 888,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,359,464. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.64 billion, a PE ratio of 27.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.03. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $411.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $379.27. Home Depot has a fifty-two week low of $323.77 and a fifty-two week high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.81 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Home Depot will post 15.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.14%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,700,427 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $8,767,449,000 after acquiring an additional 433,126 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,426,649 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,819,679,000 after acquiring an additional 205,954 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 worth $35,575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 8,762,735 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 795,438 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,515,343 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $2,931,328,000 after acquiring an additional 100,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company’s stock.

Home Depot Company Profile

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.