Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Receives $78.99 Consensus PT from Analysts

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $78.99.

WMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Walmart from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

Walmart Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WMT opened at $79.06 on Friday. 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 50-day simple moving average of $73.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.87. Walmart has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $81.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $635.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total value of $597,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 94,415 shares in the company, valued at $6,420,220. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total transaction of $166,607.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,113,904.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total value of $597,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 94,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,420,220. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock worth $959,826,083 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Walmart by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Walmart by 183.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after purchasing an additional 18,865,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Walmart by 16.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,282,129 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,102,463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246,656 shares during the last quarter. 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.