Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $83.00 to $93.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 11.04% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price 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 report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.18.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $83.75. The stock had a trading volume of 7,887,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,672,109. The firm has a market capitalization of $673.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $81.29 and its 200 day moving average is $72.98. Walmart has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $85.79.

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 company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total transaction of $182,823,328.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 619,646,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Walmart by 284.0% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 8,814.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.