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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HD shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Home Depot from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded Home Depot from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $360.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Home Depot from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Home Depot from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Home Depot from $390.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One 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, Home Depot presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $426.00.

Home Depot Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HD opened at $410.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $408.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.03. Home Depot has a one year low of $323.77 and a one year high of $439.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $411.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $379.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.65, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

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

Home Depot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Home Depot’s payout ratio is presently 61.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of Home Depot stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,727,562. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $9,030,368.44. Following the completion of 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 trade represents a 51.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,188 shares of company stock worth $15,624,585 in the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Depot

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HD. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Home Depot by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,700,427 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $8,767,449,000 after buying 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 third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,426,649 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,819,679,000 after purchasing an additional 205,954 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Home Depot by 51,250.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 8,762,735 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Home Depot by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,679,237 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,516,827,000 after buying an additional 795,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 1.2% in the second 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 in the last quarter. 70.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.