Stifel Nicolaus Issues Positive Forecast for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its price objective upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $85.00 to $89.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WMT. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.88.

Walmart Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE WMT opened at $90.44 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.84. Walmart has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $90.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $726.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares in the company, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Walmart by 201.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Walmart by 165.4% during the 1st quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,255,000 after purchasing an additional 168,346 shares during the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 186.8% during the 1st quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 7,958 shares during the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its position in Walmart by 211.0% during the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,710,257 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $102,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its position in Walmart by 96.7% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 921,820 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,466,000 after acquiring an additional 453,101 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.