Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 0% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s share price was up 0% on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $110.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $103.02 and last traded at $102.49. Approximately 3,735,633 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 14,867,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $102.46.

WMT has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.01.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $93.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $826.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS 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.