Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Coverage Initiated at Piper Sandler

Equities researchers at Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $81.00 price target on the retailer’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price points to a potential upside of 16.06% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WMT. KeyCorp upped their target price on Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Walmart from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.83.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $69.79 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $561.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $70.45.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. Analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $242,737,840.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,544,840,574.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total value of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,367,350.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,525,340 shares of company stock valued at $953,023,399 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after acquiring an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $3,674,652,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Walmart by 212.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $844,514,000 after acquiring an additional 9,544,958 shares during the period. 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.