Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

HD has been the topic of several other reports. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on Home Depot from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Home Depot from $347.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Zelman & Associates raised Home Depot from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Mizuho began coverage on Home Depot in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $415.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Home Depot from $355.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.96.

Home Depot Stock Performance

HD stock opened at $339.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The firm has a market cap of $335.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.98. Home Depot has a 12-month low of $274.26 and a 12-month high of $396.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $366.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.51.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Home Depot will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Depot

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. IRON Financial LLC increased its holdings in Home Depot by 2.5% in the first quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Bell Bank increased its holdings in Home Depot by 7.1% in the first quarter. Bell Bank now owns 3,845 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Home Depot by 10.2% in the first quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC now owns 2,766 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Home Depot by 2.5% in the first quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 15,372 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $5,897,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Home Depot in the first quarter valued at about $431,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.