JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Price Target to $418.00

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $410.00 to $418.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the home improvement retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on HD. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Home Depot from $470.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Home Depot from $461.00 to $456.00 in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Home Depot from $430.00 to $425.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC raised Home Depot from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $356.00 to $410.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Home Depot has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $427.92.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of HD opened at $370.71 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $368.50 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $359.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $387.66. Home Depot has a 12-month low of $323.77 and a 12-month high of $439.37.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.59 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $39.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.24 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 452.60% and a net margin of 9.45%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Home Depot will post 15.13 EPS for the current year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Home Depot’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 61.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,484,199 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $35,360,494,000 after buying an additional 720,447 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Home Depot by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,957,463 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $8,525,046,000 after buying an additional 257,036 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV increased its position in Home Depot by 99,400.7% during the 1st quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 18,975,772 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $6,954,431,000 after purchasing an additional 18,956,701 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Home Depot by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,415,278 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,282,398,000 after purchasing an additional 891,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Home Depot during the 4th quarter worth about $5,032,910,000. 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.