Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 0.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s share price traded up 0.4% on Friday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $86.00 to $115.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $94.52 and last traded at $94.29. 2,534,241 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 16,858,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.88.

WMT has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.33.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.47, for a total value of $277,410.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 375,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,691,507.55. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,322,993.92. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,309,091 shares of company stock worth $183,375,539 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the second quarter worth $201,000. TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 62,938 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after buying an additional 2,041 shares during the last quarter. CAP Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.8% during the second quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 5,929 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 2.1% during the second quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 22,165 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 16.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,282,129 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,102,463,000 after acquiring an additional 2,246,656 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $85.83 and a 200 day moving average of $76.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $757.19 billion, a PE ratio of 38.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.54.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 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.