Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) traded up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $88.00 to $90.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $82.53 and last traded at $82.16. 2,996,895 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 16,802,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.95.

WMT has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com raised Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total transaction of $2,348,559.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,334,337 shares of company stock worth $958,577,287 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 187.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after buying an additional 8,674,100 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 284.0% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after buying an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 184.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $756,188,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,393 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Trading Up 0.3 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $660.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share 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.