Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Given “Overweight” Rating at Morgan Stanley

Walmart (NYSE:WMT)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $115.00 target price on the retailer’s stock, up from their previous target price of $106.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 10.76% from the company’s current price.

WMT has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.85.

Walmart Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:WMT traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $103.83. 4,019,047 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,662,468. The stock has a market capitalization of $834.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart has a one year low of $55.85 and a one year high of $104.17. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Walmart by 4.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,800,743 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $142,973,000 after purchasing an additional 83,376 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,632,000 after buying an additional 18,644 shares during the last quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth $237,000. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,115 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $493,000. 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.