Home Depot shares fall for a second session in a row on Wednesday, company announces $15 billion in share buybacks

Yesterday Home Depot Inc (HD) disclosed a $15-billion share buyback program and $120 billion in targeted annual sales over the next three years, as the US largest home improvement chain seeks to speed up investment in stores, deliveries and employees. The new program is to replace a prior authorization of $15 billion, which Home Depot announced in February.

Home Depot shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on Wednesday. The stock went down 1.12% ($2.05) to $180.80, after touching an intraday low at $178.75, or a price level not seen since December 1st ($176.70).

In the week ended on December 3rd the shares of the home improvement chain added 4.69% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a third consecutive period of gains. It has also been the best performance since the week ended on September 10th.

However, due to yesterdays loss, the stock has pared its advance to 0.54% so far during the current month, following an 8.47% surge in November. The latter has been a fourth consecutive month of gains.

For the entire past year, Home Depot shares rose 1.38%. The stock has gained another 34.84% so far in 2017.

Home Depot said that as much as $8 billion in share buybacks would be completed by the end of its fiscal fourth quarter ended in January 2018.

Meanwhile, the home improvement chain has set a target range for total sales of between $114.7 billion and $119.8 billion during the fiscal year ended in January 2021. In comparison, its sales target for the current fiscal year stood at $100.6 billion.

According to CNN Money, the 30 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Home Depot’s stock price, have a median target of $179.00, with a high estimate of $192.00 and a low estimate of $158.00. The median estimate is a 1.00% decrease compared to the closing price of $180.80 on December 6th.

The same media also reported that 20 out of 32 surveyed investment analysts had rated Home Depot’s stock as “Buy”, while 10 – as “Hold”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Home Depot stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $181.11
R2 – $181.42
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $181.73
R4 (Long Breakout) – $182.66
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $183.74
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $184.22

S1 – $180.49
S2 – $180.18
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $179.87
S4 (Short Breakout) – $178.94
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $177.86
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $177.38

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Home Depot Inc (HD) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $177.82
R1 – $183.27
R2 – $186.11
R3 – $191.56
R4 – $197.00

S1 – $174.98
S2 – $169.53
S3 – $166.69
S4 – $163.84