Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0% After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shot up 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $110.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $103.02 and last traded at $102.49. 3,735,633 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 14,867,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $102.46.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WMT. UBS Group upped their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.01.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $1,207,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 579,915 shares in the company, valued at $53,352,180. The trade was a 2.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This represents a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $823.53 billion, a PE ratio of 42.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.