Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose 1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday 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 $85.25 and last traded at $85.01. Approximately 2,422,683 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 16,682,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.21.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on WMT. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $84.15.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was 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, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after acquiring an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Walmart by 284.0% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after buying an additional 8,225,552 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 8,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $683.33 billion, a PE ratio of 44.28, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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.