Piper Sandler Begins Coverage on Walmart (NYSE:WMT)

Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $81.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Walmart from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $70.83.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT stock opened at $69.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $556.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50-day moving average is $65.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.52. Walmart has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $70.45.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total transaction of $1,991,790.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,960,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,851,892.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total value of $1,991,790.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,960,402 shares in the company, valued at $270,851,892.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,525,340 shares of company stock valued at $953,023,399. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st 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 increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 183.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 212.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $844,514,000 after acquiring an additional 9,544,958 shares during 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.