The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) Short Interest Down 5.9% in April

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,310,000 shares, a drop of 5.9% from the March 31st total of 9,890,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Home Depot Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $336.80 on Tuesday. Home Depot has a 1 year low of $274.26 and a 1 year high of $396.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $364.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.58. The company has a market cap of $333.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 1,452.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Home Depot will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This is a boost from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Home Depot from $299.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Home Depot has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $13,265,887.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares in the company, valued at $39,712,878.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Depot

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,117,016,000 after acquiring an additional 992,444 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,217,777 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $4,540,197,000 after purchasing an additional 347,614 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at $4,311,070,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,347,396 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $3,730,889,000 after purchasing an additional 153,141 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Home Depot by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,802,085 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,050,363,000 after purchasing an additional 195,670 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.