Stifel Nicolaus Increases Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Price Target to $73.00

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $71.00 to $73.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the retailer’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 6.40% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.99.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE WMT opened at $68.61 on Tuesday. Walmart has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $71.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $551.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.32, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.23, for a total value of $1,899,758.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,989,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,236,780.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.23, for a total value of $1,899,758.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,989,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,236,780.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 3,540,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.55, for a total value of $228,523,137.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 648,504,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,860,933,910.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,540,863 shares of company stock valued at $954,455,147. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Walmart by 199.3% in the first quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Walmart

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.