Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 0.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s share price rose 0.4% on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $82.00 to $89.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $85.37 and last traded at $85.30. Approximately 2,283,633 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 11,793,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.99.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WMT. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Redburn Atlantic raised Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $84.15.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total transaction of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 17.1% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 7,640 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.9% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 194,326 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $15,692,000 after buying an additional 5,529 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 10.3% in the third quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 3,724 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 12.7% in the third quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 12,548 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $684.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.35, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80.

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

About Walmart

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.