Walmart’s (WMT) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $100.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $93.64 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $752.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Walmart has a 52 week low of $58.18 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $95.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.89.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. Research analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.44%.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 194,377 shares of company stock worth $18,231,904. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Walmart by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $431,632,000 after purchasing an additional 18,644 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 10,221 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $825,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Amarillo National Bank boosted its position in Walmart by 0.9% during the third quarter. Amarillo National Bank now owns 84,982 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,862,000 after purchasing an additional 779 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 7.1% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 4,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 7.5% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 5,232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.