Home Depot Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:HD)

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 39,243 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 85% compared to the average daily volume of 21,252 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Home Depot from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on Home Depot from $386.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Home Depot from $333.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $390.00 target price on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Home Depot has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $376.35.

Home Depot Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HD traded down $11.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $350.16. The company had a trading volume of 4,804,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,292,717. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.94. The business's 50 day moving average price is $370.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $337.67. The stock has a market cap of $347.01 billion, a PE ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.98. Home Depot has a 1-year low of $274.26 and a 1-year high of $396.87.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The home improvement retailer reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. Home Depot had a return on equity of 1,452.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. Home Depot's quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Home Depot will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Depot Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a $2.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from Home Depot's previous quarterly dividend of $2.09. Home Depot's payout ratio is currently 59.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 8,996 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.74, for a total transaction of $3,317,185.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,950,123.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Edward P. Decker sold 35,987 shares of the firm'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 value of $13,265,887.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 107,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,712,878.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Home Depot

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HD. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Keener Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Home Depot in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.86% of the company's stock.

Home Depot Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.