Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the retailer's stock. Bank of America's price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.62% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on WMT. Citigroup raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $90.44.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock traded up $0.45 on Wednesday, hitting $87.05. The company had a trading volume of 8,940,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,800,471. The firm has a market cap of $699.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Walmart has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $88.29.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. Walmart's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Walmart will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 378,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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