Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on WMT. Citigroup increased their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.51.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7 %

Walmart stock opened at $87.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85. Walmart has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $88.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $81.75 and its 200-day moving average is $73.43. The company has a market cap of $700.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 in the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oxbow Advisors LLC grew its position in Walmart by 45.0% in the third quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 28,453 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 587,001 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $47,400,000 after purchasing an additional 105,430 shares during the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 213.5% during the 1st quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 29,613 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 20,167 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Walmart by 201.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 14.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,235,504 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $503,517,000 after buying an additional 809,352 shares in the last quarter. 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.