Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Price Target to $91.00

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its price objective cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $93.00 to $91.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WMT. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Walmart from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. DZ Bank raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.58.

Walmart Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $92.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $744.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.51, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.69. Walmart has a 52-week low of $58.56 and a 52-week high of $105.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.96, for a total transaction of $1,220,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 568,626 shares in the company, valued at $52,859,472.96. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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. Insiders sold 178,852 shares of company stock valued at $16,785,080 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Piscataqua Savings Bank grew its stake in Walmart by 38.2% in the 1st quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 1,085 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. CMC Financial Group purchased a new position in Walmart in the first quarter worth $270,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 0.9% in the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 29,406 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,582,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Walmart by 5.4% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 920,235 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $80,787,000 after purchasing an additional 47,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in Walmart by 0.4% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 52,056 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,570,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.