Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Price Target to $81.00

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its price objective upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $81.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WMT. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $78.57.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $73.45 on Friday. Walmart has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $74.44. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.80 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.50.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $1,944,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,386,389.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 933,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.92, for a total value of $60,570,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 642,016,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,679,718,386.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $1,944,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,386,389.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,000,613 shares of company stock valued at $725,932,010. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 192.1% during the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares in the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $270,000. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its position in shares of Walmart by 189.4% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,213,000 after purchasing an additional 600,521 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.