Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $110.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $103.02 and last traded at $102.49. Approximately 3,735,633 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 14,867,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $102.46.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.01.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 2.4% during 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 buying an additional 1,133,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Walmart by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,893,079,000 after buying an additional 3,927,173 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Down 1.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $812.73 billion, a PE ratio of 41.52, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.95.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share 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.