UBS Group Increases Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Price Target to $69.00

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its price objective lifted by UBS Group from $63.00 to $69.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on WMT. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Walmart to $67.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $61.94.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $60.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.12. Walmart has a 52-week low of $48.34 and a 52-week high of $61.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $488.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Walmart will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.2075 per share. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.38%.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total transaction of $860,755,966.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 656,397,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total value of $347,895,646.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at $39,106,219,344.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total value of $860,755,966.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 656,397,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,045,631. 46.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after purchasing an additional 751,713 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Walmart by 1.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,852,277,000 after purchasing an additional 426,388 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,674,652,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Walmart by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,235,920 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,190,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150,351 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.