Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Shares Up 0.3%

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price shot up 0.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $81.23 and last traded at $80.89. 2,915,020 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 17,429,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.96.

Walmart Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $642.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.35.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total value of $2,056,445.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,931,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,589,163.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total transaction of $2,056,445.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,931,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,589,163.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 359,616 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total transaction of $28,139,952.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,989,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,262,194,181.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,317,999 shares of company stock valued at $956,341,379 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,330 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $683,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,972 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 58.3% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,631 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,443 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,965 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,600,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.