Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 0.5% during trading on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $111.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $95.90 and last traded at $95.87. 3,528,085 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 16,866,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.42.

WMT has been the topic of several other research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $93.69.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 87,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. The trade was a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.47, for a total transaction of $277,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 375,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,691,507.55. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 503,028 shares of company stock valued at $40,368,211. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer's stock worth $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Stock Performance

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $86.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $751.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.54.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current 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.