Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $91.51.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7 %

WMT opened at $87.18 on Wednesday. Walmart has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $88.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $81.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $700.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.78, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total transaction of $2,348,559.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $312,322,993.92. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. 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.