Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 0.3% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s share price was up 0.3% during trading on Monday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $86.00 to $87.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $82.92 and last traded at $82.76. Approximately 1,405,700 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 16,914,186 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.51.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WMT. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.54.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,784,857 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Nikulski Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 33,802 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. raised its position in shares of Walmart by 1.7% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 284,545 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $22,977,000 after buying an additional 4,796 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 0.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 22,879 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $367,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd 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. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $666.21 billion, a PE ratio of 43.03, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $79.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.47.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS 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.