Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price Up 0.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares traded up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $88.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $84.34 and last traded at $83.76. 2,203,100 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 16,740,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.44.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WMT. TD Cowen raised their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,765,104.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $166,607.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,113,904.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in 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 worth $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after acquiring an additional 484,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,095,946,000 after purchasing an additional 834,005 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $80.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.67. The stock has a market cap of $678.11 billion, a PE ratio of 43.84, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. Research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal 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.