Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday 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 $99.79 and last traded at $99.60, with a volume of 20444863 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $98.16.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.01.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.96, for a total value of $1,220,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 568,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,859,472.96. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 884,820 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $71,449,000 after buying an additional 70,808 shares in the last quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC grew its position in Walmart by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC now owns 5,814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,713 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of Kansas acquired a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $361,000. Cape ANN Savings Bank raised its position in Walmart by 147.5% in the third quarter. Cape ANN Savings Bank now owns 9,906 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at about $222,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.69. 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 company has a market capitalization of $823.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. 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.