Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $102.00 price target on the retailer’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Walmart from $111.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.94.

Walmart Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of WMT opened at $98.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.40. Walmart has a 52 week low of $63.63 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $786.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.70.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The firm had revenue of $165.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 39.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This trade represents a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.37, for a total transaction of $214,214.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,607,751.66. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,857 shares of company stock valued at $12,444,743. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $5,737,355,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Walmart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,532,331,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,306,627,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 9,896.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,939,728 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $697,029,000 after purchasing an additional 7,860,306 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 30.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,922,770,000 after purchasing an additional 7,706,201 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.