Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Shares Down 0.2% – What’s Next?

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares dropped 0.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $89.76 and last traded at $90.15. Approximately 2,803,150 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 16,991,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. KeyCorp raised their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.69.

Walmart Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.41 and a 200-day moving average of $79.63. The firm has a market cap of $729.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total transaction of $2,411,175.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,065 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total value of $166,624.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 457,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,915,110.17. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,412 shares of company stock worth $12,478,116. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. 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.