Walmart’s (WMT) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $105.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.49.

Walmart Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE WMT opened at $91.21 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $90.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.96. The company has a market capitalization of $732.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart has a 12 month low of $53.44 and a 12 month high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total transaction of $246,360.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 138,347 shares of company stock valued at $12,311,491. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its holdings in Walmart by 4.8% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 202,427 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,706,000 after buying an additional 9,275 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Walmart by 15.3% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 28,002 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after buying an additional 3,719 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Walmart by 3.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,214,990 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $149,977,000 after buying an additional 65,048 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its position in Walmart by 8.7% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 292,966 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $19,837,000 after acquiring an additional 23,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in Walmart by 6.3% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 357,284 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,192,000 after acquiring an additional 21,234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.