Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 0.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose 0.3% on Thursday after Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $115.00. Telsey Advisory Group currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $104.06 and last traded at $103.91. Approximately 2,315,038 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 14,602,331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.61.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,993,095.80. The trade was a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 422,736,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,194,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,683 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Walmart by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 90,635,238 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,167,186,000 after buying an additional 3,017,829 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth about $5,737,355,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,408,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $833.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.61, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $94.63 and its 200 day moving average is $84.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.