Royal Bank of Canada Trims Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Target Price to $363.00

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) had its price objective decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $377.00 to $363.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the home improvement retailer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on HD. DA Davidson raised shares of Home Depot from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $395.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Home Depot from $377.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Home Depot from $415.00 to $395.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Home Depot from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Home Depot from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $386.33.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Home Depot stock opened at $362.06 on Wednesday. Home Depot has a 52-week low of $274.26 and a 52-week high of $396.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.11, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $350.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $353.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The home improvement retailer reported $4.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $43.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.57 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.79% and a return on equity of 1,056.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.65 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Home Depot will post 15.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be issued a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Home Depot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot during the fourth quarter worth about $4,311,070,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Home Depot by 33,540.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,478,855 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $509,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,459 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Home Depot in the first quarter valued at approximately $513,016,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Home Depot by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,347,596 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $1,506,659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Home Depot by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,765,587 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,117,016,000 after purchasing an additional 992,444 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.