Walmart’s (WMT) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Mizuho

Mizuho reissued their outperform rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $115.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Walmart from $107.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Walmart from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Erste Group Bank upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Walmart from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $107.47.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $99.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $797.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $97.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.59. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $72.52 and a fifty-two week high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.53 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 2.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Walmart will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 40.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.14, for a total transaction of $1,248,712.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 932,313 shares in the company, valued at $88,700,258.82. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.58, for a total value of $1,855,781.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,412,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $421,737,000.84. This trade represents a 0.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 144,334 shares of company stock worth $13,913,350 over the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Full Sail Capital LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Full Sail Capital LLC now owns 8,702 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. Monument Capital Management raised its stake in Walmart by 94.2% in the first quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 55,004 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,829,000 after buying an additional 26,685 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Walmart by 11.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,959,752 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $698,787,000 after buying an additional 838,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Milestone Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 156.7% in the first quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 54,659 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,799,000 after buying an additional 33,370 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.