Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its target price raised by analysts at Barclays from $98.00 to $108.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential upside of 3.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. DZ Bank lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.17.

Walmart Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $104.04 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $94.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.33. Walmart has a 1-year low of $55.99 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $835.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results 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 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $1,207,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 579,915 shares in the company, valued at $53,352,180. This represents a 2.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 over the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $994,000. South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth about $1,038,000. Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth about $813,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 78,430 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,086,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Management raised its holdings in Walmart by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 48,592 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.