Piper Sandler Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Walmart (NYSE:WMT)

Piper Sandler reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $83.00 price target on the retailer’s stock, up from their previous price target of $81.00.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WMT. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $78.57.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $73.45 on Friday. Walmart has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $74.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $590.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.43.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $1,944,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,386,389.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $1,944,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 144,807 shares in the company, valued at $9,386,389.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,000,613 shares of company stock worth $725,932,010 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Rossmore Private Capital grew its position in shares of Walmart by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 20,504 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,232,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,377 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,370,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Landmark Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Landmark Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,055 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kelman Lazarov Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Kelman Lazarov Inc. now owns 3,928 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by 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.