Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 1.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price rose 1.3% on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $88.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $80.17 and last traded at $80.08. Approximately 2,490,380 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 17,474,467 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.06.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Walmart from $64.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 94,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,420,220. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Walmart news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total value of $597,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,420,220. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total transaction of $166,607.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 459,558 shares in the company, valued at $37,113,904.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,369,039 shares of company stock valued at $959,826,083 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Able Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 138.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $644.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.87.

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