Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Downgraded by DZ Bank to “Hold”

DZ Bank downgraded shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. DZ Bank currently has $91.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WMT. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

Walmart Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $90.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $726.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.12, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $82.12 and its 200 day moving average is $73.94. Walmart has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $90.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 253.0% in the first quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 526 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Walmart

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.