Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $93.00 to $118.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $104.13 and last traded at $103.87. 4,180,739 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 14,678,992 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.78.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on WMT. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’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 owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart 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 $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 have sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Retirement Planning Group LLC NY purchased a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $475,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at $12,889,000. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at $3,979,000. Pacific Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth about $1,306,000. Finally, Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Price Performance

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 market capitalization of $834.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.38 and its 200 day moving average is $86.05.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 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.