The Home Depot, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.25 (NYSE:HD)

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a dividend of 2.25 per share by the home improvement retailer on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th.

Home Depot has increased its dividend by an average of 11.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Home Depot has a dividend payout ratio of 57.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Home Depot to earn $15.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.7%.

Home Depot Stock Performance

Shares of Home Depot stock opened at $428.67 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $404.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $369.82. Home Depot has a 12 month low of $308.59 and a 12 month high of $430.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $425.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.12, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.01. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The home improvement retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $40.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.31 billion. Home Depot had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 452.60%. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Home Depot will post 15.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Timothy A. Hourigan sold 16,004 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $6,553,958.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,727,562. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa Wynn Roseborough sold 22,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,343,399.64. The trade was a 51.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,188 shares of company stock valued at $15,624,585 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on HD. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Home Depot from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Home Depot in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $451.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Home Depot from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Home Depot from $430.00 to $466.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Home Depot from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $426.00.

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.