Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Stock Price

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $431.00 to $424.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the home improvement retailer’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC upgraded shares of Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $356.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.50.

Home Depot Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE HD opened at $396.69 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $401.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $398.72. Home Depot has a 52 week low of $323.77 and a 52 week high of $439.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65. The stock has a market cap of $394.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.09. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The business had revenue of $39.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Home Depot will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is a positive change from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Depot

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HD. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,032,910,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,212,546,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 21,394.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,039,862 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $793,486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,030,372 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,149,890 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $4,726,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Home Depot during the 4th quarter valued at about $471,189,000. 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.