Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Given New $107.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its price target decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $109.00 to $107.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the retailer’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WMT. Bank of America upped their price target on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.43.

Walmart Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $94.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.44. Walmart has a 12-month low of $57.77 and a 12-month high of $105.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $760.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Research analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.02%.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112 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 the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 422,736,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,194,278,000 after buying an additional 2,050,683 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 90,635,238 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,167,186,000 after buying an additional 3,017,829 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $5,737,355,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,408,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,201 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.