Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price rose 0.7% on Tuesday 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 $100.31 and last traded at $100.21. Approximately 3,528,810 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 14,780,686 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.54.

WMT has been the subject of several other research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.01.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.62, for a total value of $2,697,464.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,766,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,852,396.42. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 77.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Trading Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $823.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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.