Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Rating Lowered to Hold at DZ Bank

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) was downgraded by analysts at DZ Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $91.00 target price on the retailer’s stock. DZ Bank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 0.62% from the stock’s current price.

WMT has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.88.

Walmart Stock Up 2.3 %

WMT opened at $90.44 on Thursday. Walmart has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $90.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $82.12 and a 200-day moving average of $73.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $726.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total transaction of $2,348,559.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,322,993.92. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Walmart by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after buying an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.