Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading 0.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT – Get Free Report) rose 0.3% on Thursday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $72.00 to $73.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $68.13 and last traded at $67.78. Approximately 2,898,070 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 18,017,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.60.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on WMT. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.97.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Walmart

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $242,737,840.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,493,971 shares of company stock valued at $950,549,592. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 212.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $844,514,000 after acquiring an additional 9,544,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 0.6 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $63.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $547.20 billion, a PE ratio of 29.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.52.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Company Profile

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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.