Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The home improvement retailer reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.75 by $0.06, MarketWatch Earnings reports. Home Depot had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 1,339.65%. The business had revenue of $37.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Home Depot Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE HD opened at $306.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $306.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $306.48. Home Depot has a 52 week low of $274.26 and a 52 week high of $347.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.37, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Home Depot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 30th will be paid a $2.09 dividend. This represents a $8.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Home Depot’s payout ratio is 53.66%.

Home Depot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 15th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the home improvement retailer to buy up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Home Depot

In related news, CAO Kimberly R. Scardino sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.69, for a total value of $522,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,705,319.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 6,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.22, for a total transaction of $1,974,824.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,749 shares in the company, valued at $7,375,680.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Kimberly R. Scardino sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.69, for a total value of $522,704.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,705,319.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,811 shares of company stock valued at $6,441,376. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Home Depot by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,737,490 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock worth $5,918,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,402 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Home Depot in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,740,875,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 105,205.6% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,994,957 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,472,867,000 after buying an additional 10,984,516 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Home Depot by 14.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,729,735 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $3,211,731,000 after buying an additional 1,361,660 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Home Depot by 91.1% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,757,926 shares of the home improvement retailer’s stock valued at $856,722,000 after buying an additional 1,314,781 shares during the period. 68.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HD shares. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $327.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $321.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 15th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $339.57.

Home Depot Company Profile

The Home Depot, Inc operates as a home improvement retailer. 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.