Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $83.37 and last traded at $83.31, with a volume of 1343475 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.89.

Walmart Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $670.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.46, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.67.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The business 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%. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares in the company, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares in the company, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at $31,054,909.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Concord Asset Management LLC VA grew its position in Walmart by 37.6% in the third quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 20,300 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,547 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Tower Bridge Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 90,116 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 182.6% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 13,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 8.8% during the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.