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

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose 0.3% on Thursday after Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $115.00. Telsey Advisory Group currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $104.06 and last traded at $103.91. Approximately 2,315,038 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 14,602,331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.61.

WMT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.56.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.62, for a total transaction of $2,697,464.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,766,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,852,396.42. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $5,737,355,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $2,306,627,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $833.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.61, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $94.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.95.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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.