Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $96.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the retailer's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.54% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WMT. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp upped their target price on Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Walmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.11.

Walmart Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMT traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $86.85. The stock had a trading volume of 8,141,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,795,326. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $81.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.34. Walmart has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $88.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $698.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oxbow Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 45.0% during the third quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 28,453 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 587,001 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $47,400,000 after purchasing an additional 105,430 shares during the period. Whalerock Point Partners LLC grew its position in Walmart by 213.5% in the 1st quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 29,613 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 20,167 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Walmart by 201.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer's stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 14.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,235,504 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $503,517,000 after purchasing an additional 809,352 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company's stock.

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.

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