Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0.2% – Time to Buy?

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $84.78 and last traded at $84.64. Approximately 3,523,622 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 16,649,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $84.84.

Walmart Trading Up 0.3 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.62. 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 has a market capitalization of $680.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth $26,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 138.3% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 253.0% during the first quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 526 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

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.