Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price traded up 0.3% on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $98.00 to $108.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $104.06 and last traded at $103.91. 2,315,038 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 14,602,331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.61.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.17.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % 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, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $994,000. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $1,038,000. Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $813,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 78,430 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,086,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Management raised its stake in Walmart by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 48,592 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $835.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.70, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $94.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.09.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.